Hello My Darling
by JokingJester
Summary: What the fudge? I'm fudging married to you?" Claire screamed as she stared at her best friend, Gray's, face in agony and frustration. ClairexGray
1. Prologue

Author's Note: Second story. Yay! Just to let you know, this it not a sequel (well it cant be a sequel in the first place) of Reminiscence, but it's still GrayxClaire though. Hopefully this story would be fun and get some reviews.

Disclaimer: I Do Not Own The Characters of Harvest Moon In Any Way.

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Hello My Darling

Prologue

Claire looked around the whole room. The setting has been decorated in lacey white and light blue decorations, silver bells were hung on top of the door, there were lotus petals permeating the floors and white rug that was leading the door to the alter. The pews had orchids and white roses placed on the sides with white pink ribbons hanging loosely. Fancy gold-colored candles with angel shaped handles were lit all over the room, shining brightly as if they were the angels that appeared when baby Jesus was born. Rose scented perfume wafted in the air, relaxing everyone that breathed in the harmonic scent.

As Claire glanced around the beautifully lit and decorated room, all she saw were smiling faces that were filled with joy and happiness. Claire's face slowly brightened, following the other's lead. 'There seems to be a wedding going on' Claire thought to herself when she noticed the appearance and garments that the citizens of Mineral Town were wearing. 'Whose?' She questioned, searching the pews looking to see if maybe the bride would be hiding in between the guests and suddenly jumped up saying "Here I am!" 'I always wanted to try doing that once,' she thought. She then noticed something rather awkward, everyone has been staring at her, smiling in admiration, murmuring 'oohs' and 'aahs'. Finally the wedding theme song started.

'Gray, would you take this young lady as your lawful wedded wife as long as death do you part?' Carter asked, smiling humbly. 'Gray was getting married?' Claire's attention flickered to the Gray's face which seemed strangely closed to her, 'Was he getting married to Mary?' the young blonde thought, knowing that he had feelings for the shy librarian.

'I do.' Gray replied, his blue sapphire eyes were filled with love as he turned to look at…Claire!

'And do you, Claire, take Gray as your lawfully wedded husband as long as you both shall live?' Carter diverted his blind gaze to Claire who was still shocked. She looked again into the crowd and noticed that at the last pew to the right was Mary and her family. She looked down at her body and slowly noticed that _she _was the only one clothed in white and this was _her _wedding.

'Claire, do you?' Carter repeated his question, raising his eyebrows in curiosity. Claire switched her gaze to Gray whose face was red with embaressment and sweating with nervousness, his face was slightly distorted with pain that his future bride was hesitating about marrying him.

'Claire, do you or do you not take Gray as your husband?' Carter asked again, frowning. It seemed as if the whole world centered on Claire herself, everyone in the pews leaned in to listen more closely to what Claire has to say. 'Oh Goddess…' the bride thought, 'I don't…' she let out a breath but it was barely audible.

'CLAIRE, DO YOU OR DO YOU NOT TAKE GRAY AS YOUR HUSBAND??' Carter was shouting with the top of his lungs, his face turned red and slowly mutated into a red demon. Claire shot a frightened glance at the citizens and almost screamed when everyone's has mutated into demons, skeletons, goblins, ghouls and Mayor Thomases. The floor shattered and pieces of the ground fell into the fiery pits of hell. The walls tumbled revealing the scenery of Mineral Town that was twisted into something that Claire couldn't describe herself. Fire scorched her skin, her dress blazed into flames, she was on fire.

'DO YOU CLAIRE??!!' Everyone shouted at her with their fire filled eyes, yellow topaz fangs and ruby colored faces.

'NOOOOOOOO!!!!' Claire screamed before it all turned pitched dark…


	2. Chapter 1

A/N: I got this plot from a friend and i hope it'll be as fun as she said it should. XD

Disclaimer: I dont not own Harvest Moon

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Chapter 1

Claire shot up like a thunderbolt, eyes wide with fright, skin soaked with sweat, hair tangled together into knots. "Dream…It was a dream…" Claire mumbled to herself, relieved and worried at the same time. Today was the 3rd night that she had this dream of marrying Gray, the novice blacksmith that works above Claire's farm. A soft whimper came from Claire's side, she turned to see her dog, Catfish, eyes filled with concern and paws were scratching the side of her bed.

"I'm okay boy, it was just another bad dream. Yup, the same bad dream mommy had yesterday and the day before." She answered his gaze, used to feeling crazy when talking to an animal. She stumbled out of bed and crawled sleepily to her antique grandfather clock. 'Good Goddess, it's 8 in the morning already?' Claire panicked; she was almost an hour later for her appointment with Gray in the mines. "Oh he's going to be so pissed at me…" she grumbled, not ready to listen to another of his lectures about lateness. 'Bet he picked that lecturing attitude from Saibara,' Claire chuckled, taking a quick step to stand in front of the mirror to fix her hair, leaving the make-up, she's not going to be needing it after all the sweat from the mines. After her daily morning duties, she quickly put on her favorite orange overalls. It _was _close to the color of her hair, which is her first favorite color. She dashed out of the house, into the snow and straight to the where the mines are, where stood Gray with his arms crossed while huffing and puffing with the word 'Angry' scribbled right across his face.

"Gray!" the blonde farmer yelled as she entered the small snow covered field, waving her arm so he would know that it wasn't Ann or Popuri that was also there calling his name. Ann, one of her friends had her hair tied in a loose pony-tail, probably going to tie it into her usual braid later at the inn. Popuri still had her 'normal' pink hair hanging loose in curls as she stared sleepily into the pond. Ann probably dragged her here extra early today.

"Oooh…you're _so_ busted Claire. He came extra early today did you know that?" Ann whispered as she walked passed the orange-haired girl, daughter of the inn owner.

"Thanks buddy…" Claire muttered back, walking pass Popuri she received no response but a mere loud yawn from her chicken crazed friend. "Hi to you too Popuri." She walked to stand in front of Gray, her also best friend, giving him what they both call a 'dumb-looking yet sorry smile', or 'DLYS' smile for short.

"Don't give me that DLYS smile. I'm mad at you and you know it." Gray diverted his glare to something else, trying to look angry when truthfully he isn't. Not when his best friend is a blonde, beautiful farmer that was giving him puppy-dog eyes and a dumb-looking yet sorry smile. "This has been your-"

"I know I know, third day that I'm late for my digging in the mines appointment with you." She sighed dropping the smile and looked down at her feet, trying to look as pitiful as she can so that her stubborn friend would give up his act.

Taking a closer look at her face, Gray noticed that she had eye bags and she looked as tired as ever. "Goddess, what have you been doing these past three days? You look tired as hell itself burnt you up." He said in concern giving her a shock because it was directly what made her tired, her dream about marriage and hell breaking loose.

"Can't sleep that's all, but forget about that, did we come here to gossip and chit chat or dig?"

"Good point." Gray tugged down his UMA cap and led her into the mines. Raising his hammer, he started pounding on the rocks with Claire following his lead to hoe the ground to find the stair case that leads to another floor. He still can't believe it that a fragile-looking city girl like Claire was able to keep up with him when digging and _still _be able to do all her farm work.

"Do you know what I hate most?" Claire suddenly asked out of nowhere. Gray shrugged his shoulders while continuing to dig. "It's that I have to see your boring face for hours straight and that tacky UMA cap of yours. I mean, when do you ever take that hideous thing off for Goddess sakes." Claire started whining.

Gray chuckled at her, ever since the first day they met, she had a thing about his cap, he quote, _'It's a disgrace to all fashion sense.'_

xxx

_Clang!_

_Gray has dropped his hammer for the fourth time that day which sadly disfigures the necklace he's working on. Every time he drops the hammer he would receive an ear splitting lecture from his grandfather, but this time when he sends in his work and Saibara, his grandfather starts another one of his famous blacksmithing teachings, Gray couldn't take it anymore. _

"_WHAT??!! TELL ME OLD MAN, WHAT'S THE PROBLEM WITH THIS ONE? IT LOOKS ABSOLUTELY FINE!!"_

"_Fine? It doesn't look any good to me Gray, you still have a lot to learn and you need more training." Saibara answered to his grandson's anger calmly._

"_NO GOOD?? TRAINING?? I HAVE BEEN TRAINING HOURS A DAY FOR YEARS!!"_

_Knock Knock._

_A girl peeked inside the shop right in the middle of Gray's one-sided argument, unknowing that it was a bad time._

"_Hello, is this place closed?" She asked. _

"_IT'S CLOSE SO GET OUT!!"_

"_Excuse me?" She asked, her anger rising up like a volcano, she dislikes being shout at._

"_GRAY!! That is no way to treat a customer!!" Saibara yelled at Gray angered by Gray's temper and bad manners. _

"…_whatever" He grunted._

"…_." The blonde gave a huff in response clearly still angry at him._

"_I'm sorry for my grandson, he could be a little too vocal sometimes, what's your name my dear?" Saibara asked._

"_Oh, I'm Claire, the new farmer." She smiled to the old blacksmith receiving a smile back._

"_I'm Saibara, the blacksmith and owner of this shop, and this is Gray, my apprentice and grandson." He introduced getting a quite 'charmed' from Claire._

"_Well, I'll have to go first, clearly this isn't a good time." And with that she exited the small overheated room. _

"_What are you doing boy??" The blacksmith shouted as Claire was out of sight._

"_Huh?"_

"_Follow her!! Tell her that you're sorry, I don't need a rude grandson for an apprentice."_

"_Uh…ye-yeah!" With that he ran out to catch up with her, shouting various words to get her attention. When she actually did turn around, Gray's face turned a little red before meekly stuttering a 'sorry'._

"_Oh about that, no problem…"_

"_I'm just having some problems, you know?" And he started to tell Claire, someone who he barely knows, his problems while walking back to the shop. _

"_Gray?"_

"_Yeah?"_

"_IT'S CALLED TRAINING YOU IDIOT!! YOU HAVE BEEN TRAINING FOR YEARS AND JUST BECAUSE OF A SMALL DAILY LECTURE LIKE THAT AND YOU'RE WILLING TO GIVE UP??"_

_Gray was taken back by her sudden shouting thinking at the same time that she was right and he was a fool to think about giving up._

"_If you ever do give up then that means you're a rude arrogant jerk that yells at people and wears a tacky cap and it's a disgrace to all fashion sense." _

_Gray was stunned for a second before laughing loudly, his first laugh all day. Impressed by the small fragile-looking blonde girl who was giving him a lecture herself, they started becoming friends from that very moment outside the blacksmith shop. _

xxx

Claire's POV

"Earth to Gray, come in Gray!" I bellowed into his ear, planning on bursting his ear drums if he did not come back to reality the next second. I sucked in a deep breath, coughing on the first because of all the dust, and locking the air in my cheeks preparing to fire…I mean shout. Lucky for him, he snapped back to reality before I let go and frowned at me.

"What were you planning to do?" He chuckled. _Oh nothing, I was just planning on busting your eardrums just now._

"Taking a deep breath of course, what do you think I'm doing?" I snorted as if it was very obvious of my actions. He rolled his eyes before continuing to hammer the rocks.

"So Captain, any new goals for today?" I peeked at him through my long yellow bangs, I need a cut…

"Why as the matter of fact, I think I do. I want to find some orichalc today."

"That's big talk for someone who has been digging for years and only found junk ores and bronze." I teased him earning a shy blacksmith.

"Shut up…" His ears turned red slowly probably dreaming about what he was going to do when he does find orichalc for accessories and junk.

"Oooh, the boy's got game. Planning on using accessories to woo Mary huh?" I nudged him playfully in the ribs, I could easily notice that I was right on target and he's blushing like mad right now. Anyone can if they have been friends for 2 years straight. Yep, you got that right, I have been living on this island for 2 years straight on that once piece of dirt land. I have finally recently upgraded my house to the final stage, owning a kitchen, TV, big bed, fireplace, and giant comfy rug. Yup, this is the life.

"…I-I hate you." He stuttered, he does that every time whenever I embarrassed him.

"You love me and you know it," I giggled, pulling off his cap and putting it on my head, "The only thing I don't understand is why you have been going to that library for years and both you and Mary's relationship haven't changed from the juvenile stage. Every time I go there all I see is too little babies too shy to say anything except 'Hello' 'Goodbye' 'I'll come back tomorrow' and 'Try this book'. Really now, if you feel for the gal you should hustle boy! If you won't, I will say something to her for sure."

"NO!" He turned back with the eyes of a child, clear sapphire eyes filled with innocence and puppy love. He was acting like a kid who just had his first love and was too shy to tell her (or him. Teehee.) but also too embarrassed to let his mother/friend help him. "I want to do it myself…" He grumbled, pulling the tip the front of the UMA hat on my head lower to hide my face. I laughed at his reactions and answer. "And you know why I never said anything to her, I wasted a year on you! I just don't want the same thing to happen again, that's all..." He wailed flinging his arms in the air. Reminding me about the dark past.

xxx

_After the day Claire and Gray met, they started as friends but slowly developing a small admiration for one other. Spending time with each other everyday gradually increased their admiration for the other. Minutes turned to hours, hours turned to days, days turned to weeks, and before they know it, a year has almost passed. Gray was surprised that he has been using up his time with the new farmer._

_On the last winter night they both chose to view the first sunrise instead of eating buckwheat noodle in Rose Square. They bluntly chose to sit in front of everyone in the front at the tip of the mountain, huddling closely under a warm cotton blanket. They were giggling every time they hear someone in the back complain that Gray and Claire were blocking their view. Waiting for the sun to rise took some time and it wore both Claire and Gray out. Both their heads gently leaned on each other, forbidding the other's torso to fall. _

_Gray mildly open his eyes just in time for the sun to rise, he looked next to him to where his friend was leaning onto him for support. He smiled, his cheeks reddening in the pregnant moment. He tenderly shook Claire's shoulders waking her up. She yawned and stretched her arms. She turned to smile at Gray who smiled right back, using one hand to brush the golden bangs out of her eyes. What he loved second most about Claire was those piercing aqua eyes that gave him the tingly feeling that she could see right through him like thin paper. _

_Her stare drifted to the rising sun, a gasp escaped her lips. 'Beautiful…' she whispered._

'_Yeah…' Gray agreed, but it wasn't the sun he was looking at, but Claire, the girl who sat next to him, the first girl who inspired him to continue training, the first girl he spent hours talking to each day, the first girl who bought his worthless piece of 'tool' and used it on her farm. (Which broke on the second day, but it was the thought that counts.)_

_Claire peeked through her long bangs and immediately blushed when she met the pair of sapphire eyes that caused her to feel all jittery on the insides. They both laughed softly for no apparent reason all of the sudden when their eyes met. They sat in silence for a moment, enjoying the peace of the early dawn. _

_They both lingered a little longer before getting up and tumbling over each other onto the cold ground as their legs tangled and the coldness numbed their legs. Claire was on top of Gray the second she noticed the position they were in and they were both staring deep into each other's eyes. It was like gravity was pulling the two together, nervously they kissed each other, Gray holding Claire's head and Claire's arms pushing the ground to keep from falling. The sun rise was their background and there were lullaby birds singing softly, everything was perfect until they both pulled their heads back…_

'_Bleh, did you feel anything? Claire asked Gray frowning and wiping her mouth. _

'…_You mean the fireworks that were supposedly to crack when we kissed?...No. Not a single thing.' He responded also frowning and wiping his mouth. _

'_Dude, you read way too many romantic novels. Fireworks? Pleaseeeee…what have you been reading at the library Gray?' Claire laughed teasingly as she rolled off the red-haired boy._

'_Shut up…' he replied, softly punching Claire's arm while his face turned bright pink. 'Mary recommended it to me. Said it might help in the future.' _

'_Uh-huh. Sure pal, I still think you wanted to read it by yourself. I bet you were reading it when planning to woo me aren't cha'? –fake sigh- I can't help it that I'm irresistible.'_

'_Oh yeah right, how bout those girly magazines in your house huh? What do you call those? I saw them "How to get your dream guy tips" and "10 Ways to Flirt" headlines. You fell for me too, admit it!' Gray taunted back. And just like that, they had fallen into their old friendship, forgetting the whole kissing incident that occurred a few minutes ago. But deep inside Gray felt the tear in his heart when the girl he loved didn't feel the same for him as he did for her._

xxx

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Fun? FUN? Hopefully it's fun...lol

If it is please review!!


	3. Chapter 2

A/N: Well here's Chapter 2 of 'Hello My Darling'! Hope you enjoy this story. :) And...

THANK YOU .xXRuthieCutieXx. and IceFire149 for also reading this story!! (I can cry with joy already.) I LOVE YOU GUYS FOR BEING THE FIRST TO REVIEW FOR BOTH STORIES!! Woot!

THANK YOU chocobo86 : Thank you very much for reading both stories of mine!

THANK YOU....Oh my God its...AiOkami!! *girly scream* I can't believe the writer of 'First Winter' came to review my story!! I am honored. XD (I hope your review isnt a dream. lol.)

THANK YOU BrokenRayne for your longest review so far that i recieved for this story! You made me sound like i'm such a good writer~(which i'm not) Thank you Rayne!!

THANK YOU Moomoo for saying that my story is awesome! (Yep, poor Gray.)

-PS. Deal with this THANK YOU stuff please...i'm easily overjoyed when it comes to reviews, i have the need to express my feelings to those who review. lol-

Disclaimer: I do not and cannot own Harvest Moon.

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Chapter 2

Gray's POV

"Thanks for reminding me about that…" Claire mumbled pulling the hat lower to cover her blushing face. Seeing her blush made me blush myself so I did nothing but went back to pounding rocks. Seems like she tried to go back to work too.

"Hey Gray?" She called out of the blue.

"Hmm?" I answered turning my head to look at her. She was smiling at me as usual while giving me a funny look, probably having an epiphany or some sort.

"Your birthday's tomorrow isn't it? December the 23rd right?" Claire asked while still digging away in the dirt, picking up a gold ore and chucking it into her rucksack.

"What about it?"

"Nothing. Oh, it's almost 10 already; you should go if you don't want to listen to Saibara's lecture." Claire looked at her watch that she got from Rick last season, wonder how she got him to give it to her. From what I heard from Saibara and his old men gossip with Mayor Thomas, she's good with guys and some girls dislike her for that…especially Karen now that Claire's got a watch from Rick, Karen's beloved. But I think she doesn't really like Rick, I meant Claire.

"Uh-huh…wait, almost 10?? Shit. We should probably go then." I started packing up my tools, equipment, and ores. No luck in finding orichalc today. Goddess, and I was planning on making Mary a bracelet for her birthday…that I missed 2 days ago since the lack of orichalc…

"You go ahead, I want to dig a little more but I'll need to borrow your hammer for today." _Was she nuts?_

"Are you nuts? No way am I letting you dig on your own down here, it was part of the deal, you will never come down here without me or a chaperone!" I lectured her, no way am I letting my friend, who's a girl, hammer for ores on her own down here in the dark when the rocks could suddenly collapse on her any second. But I don't think she took my lecturing very well.

"Are you _mad_ Gray? I'm not a child!! I can take care of myself just fine without your help or guidance in any way!! I'm a grown woman who's been living here for 2 freakin' years going on third, and I have been coming down here ALONE for centuries without your f-ing help!!" She screamed at me, I knew it. She doesn't like to be taken care of, for a weak fragile figure girl like her she has a lot of pride and a giant ego. Maybe that's why I just can't stand it to let her be alone all the time where danger could happen. She doesn't rely on people for help, always acting strong…

We stared eye to eye for a brief moment, knowing that I lost in this argument. I couldn't do anything much now since she's so stubborn about this, can't do anything but give her my hammer. She was still panting from all the shouting and anger when she accepted the hammer and turned back to dig.

"You think you could come over to the shop when you're done?" I asked, or pleaded was more like it.

"Sure thing…" I heard a soft response from her. Surely she would come, she doesn't like to break promises. I sighed slowly and tiredly before climbing up the stairs to go back to the fresh world.

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Claire's POV

The nerve on that guy!! I know I made a deal with him about coming to the mines and all but that was just…just…arrogant of him to think I can't handle a few rocks. What was he my father? Piff, I don't need a father. Never had, never will.

I continued digging longer than I expected, I was trying to find orichalc. I was late on birthday gift shopping and I needed to find Gray a present badly. And what he needs most right now is orichalc for Mary.

Minutes turned into hours and before I know it, it was almost 12. My stomach rumbled a soft 'roar', I haven't had anything for breakfast or lunch but these drugs from the clinic! Geez, I haven't even succeeded in finding one measly orichalc, why was it so hard to find?? I only found these stupid giant adamanite rocks for Goddess sakes!! I breathed in the dusty air, coughing and choking…I felt so tired…so worn out, but I still need to find the damn orichalc. I mustered up all the strength I had left in my body and clobbered the last rock in the 12th floor. It gave a loud crack and finally, something good came out. Orichalc…I smiled down at the ore and picked it up, admiring the pretty crystal-like stone. No wonder blacksmiths like Saibara were able to make beautiful accessories, orichalcs were gorgeous even without being transformed. "Where have you been all my life beautiful?" I chuckled at my own lame joke.

Tucking the orichalc under my arm, I took out a bottle of the stuff the Doc was selling in that clinic of his, I hated drinking medicine. I tipped the bottle up but just before the herbal liquid could quench my lips, I blacked out.

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Gray's POV

I looked back at the clock for what I could call the millionth time ever since I came back from the mines. What was taking her so long? It has been what? 2 hours since I left and she wasn't done?

"What are you looking at my clock for boy? That's got to be at least the millionth time you been staring at it!! Get to work!" Saibara yelled at me, but how could I concentrate when Claire could be hurt or worse, dead by now?

"Could I leave early today?" I asked him, still looking at the clock while the seconds ticked by.

"What? Leave early? Sure thing, if you finish that tool you're working on and get my approval, you can leave early today." Saibara grumbled as a reply, turning back to his own work. What was his problem? It's not like I ask something from him everyday!! I stared at the back of Saibara intensely and murderously, if only I had courage I could easily pummel him and get out of here. The tool I have been working on was suppose to look like a sickle, it had look like one until today. Today it became considerably altered due to my mood, no longer does it look like a sickle, but a flat stick with bents in the iron head.

-Ring-

"Hey Saibara, hey Gray." Rick walked inside the store, white fluff was all over him. What does he want? "I came for the hoe I asked for 3 days ago. Is it done Saibara?" Question answered.

"Here you go Rick. Looks just like new, that would be 3000 gold for upgrading it. Never took a chicken boy like you for digging in the mines for gold ore." Saibara said, taking out his handkerchief and cleaning his hands.

"I don't, but Claire does." Chicken boy answered casually,…wait…WHAT??!! Claire??

"What do you mean by that chicken boy??" I demanded, taking hold onto the apron thing he's always wearing, causing him to startle. My other hand was still holding my somewhat scary sickle-like weapon, daring him to anger me.

"Wh-what??" He stammered out, what is he, deaf? So I asked again, more slowly and patiently. I was so going to knock him back to the chicken coop if he still doesn't understand human language. I raised the sickle a little higher so that feather boy could get a good look at it. He stared oddly at my work clearly befuddled at the warped shaped sickle.

"What. Did. You. Mean. Just. Now?" I gritted my teeth and asked.

"Oh! I-I asked her to go dig for gold for me in exchange for a watch that I had as an extra. What's the big deal?" He smiled nervously, sweating like a pig. I pushed him away, relieved that Saibara isn't taking any part in my argument…yet. I sucked in a deep breath and carefully asked him…

"Do you think you could help me with something chicken- uh, I mean Rick?" I scratched my chin. "I think Claire may be in trouble in the mines, do you think you could get Cliff to go with you and find out?" I pleaded, the second time today, I'm losing my pride here. If he declined my proposal, I am going to have so much fun with slicing that long sissy hair crop of hair of his.

"Claire? Ye-yeah, I guess I can." He answered, probably knowing that I can't go anywhere, and he did once had feelings for her…before Karen came picking fights with Claire and Claire thought it wasn't worth the trouble to be seeing Rick.

"……thanks." I muttered, dropping the sickle back on the furnace and continuing doing my job.

-clang-

* * *

The two guys look up at the Spring mine, shivering from the cold and the thought that Claire could most likely be stuck in there since she wasn't at her farm or anywhere else. Rick had hurried back to the poultry farm to tell his sick mother that he's running Gray's errands today, putting Popuri in charge of the chickens. He sprinted to the Church and dragged Cliff out by the collar before running to the Goddess pond.

"So…Claire's in there?" Cliff asked Rick who was gawking at the mine himself. Rick nodded once, adjusting his glasses to get a clear look at the mine. He's been so busy with his work that he forgotten how big the mine was.

"That's what I heard…" Rick answered in monotone, getting a better grip on his new golden hoe. Cliff took hold on his borrowed hammer.

"So, got a plan?"

"We'll either dig till we find her or get buried alive by Gray. Take your pick…"

Cliff gulped walking into the mines, clearly choosing the first option.

The two boys dug and dug, drinking medicine every few floors because lack of exercise made them exhausted easily. The air was filled and clouded with dust and ore scent. The farther down they were, the more musty and unventilated it was, it was getting a little harder to breath as they reached what seemed to them the 11th floor. They would have given up a long time already if Cliff haven't found trails of broken ores on the ground.

"Good grief, Claire must be frustrated to be destroying ores like this for fun." Cliff exclaimed as he examined the shattered ores lying on the ground. Bronze and silver ores were merely crumbled into bits and pieces, and gold ores were left lying unwanted.

"Hey, I think I found another stair case!" Rick shouted to Cliff who ran clumsily to where Rick was standing. Rick walked down first with the excited Cliff trailing his back. "Point the flashlight there will you?" Rick pointed to a giant lump of rock in the shadows. As Cliff shone the flashlight where he pointed, they noticed it wasn't a big long rock but it was Claire herself, either dead or unconscious.

The two boys hurried over to the girl's body, stumbling on chunks of adamanite that were thrown on the floor. Rick scanned the area for dangerous creatures that may be lurking around the mine while Cliff checked on Claire's lifeless body. Her eyes were close and her lips were crack due to dehydration. A bottle of medicine was lying next to her, the contents were continuously dripping from the container steadily. Shards of broken rocks were dangerously pricking Claire's sensitive skin, exposing a passage way for the red liquid to ooze out.

"I think she's alive…she's still got a pulse but it's very weak right now, I could barely feel it. Oh Goddess, she must have been here for hours long!" Cliff panicked removing his thumb off his Claire's wrist. Even when nudging her she didn't stir or move a muscle.

"Let's hurry out of here then, you get Claire and I'll get the bags." Rick hurried to the bags, calling dibs. He was hoping on carrying something more light since he doesn't really have power left in him, but to his luck…

"Good Goddess, her bags must weigh a ton! What does she have in here?" Rick complained while trying hard to carry the rucksack over his shoulders. Cliff was a different story.

"Hey, she weighs nothing at all!" Cliff exclaimed, easily getting up. He looked down at Claire and had to blush, even though her face was half covered with dirt and it was slightly blue, she was still beautiful. Could be the most beautiful girl on the island. He noticed that she was hugging an ore in her arms, holding tight to the crystal-colored stone. He smiled slightly as he noticed that it must have been the orichalc Gray wanted. His roommate has been complaining about finding orichalc for ages ever since Mary's birthday was getting closer. Maybe now Gray would shut up.

* * *

'_CLAIRE, DO YOU OR DO YOU NOT TAKE GRAY AS YOUR HUSBAND??' Carter was shouting with the top of his lungs, his face turned red and slowly mutated into a red demon. She shot a frightened glance at the citizens and almost screamed when everyone's has mutated into demons, skeletons, goblins, ghouls and Mayor Thomases. The floor shattered and pieces of the ground fell into the fiery pits of hell. The walls tumbled revealing the scenery of Mineral Town that was twisted into something that Claire couldn't describe herself. Fire scorched her skin, her dress blazed into flames, she was on fire. _

'_DO YOU CLAIRE??!!' Everyone shouted at me with their fire filled eyes, yellow topaz fangs and ruby colored faces. Their twisted hands were searching their way to get a hold on her._

"NOOOOOO!!!" Claire screamed, clutching tight onto the blanket that was covering her body and squirming away from the images in her head. "Get away from me!!!" she screamed, hot fiery tears streamed down her face, while her legs and arms were sore, screaming in agony every time she'd move. Elli who was next to Claire gave a little shriek by the sudden screaming. She ran to the lobby calling the doctor who strode next to the patient with two other guys following his trail.

"Claire! What's wrong? Are you hurt anywhere?" The Doctor asked while Elli ripped the blanket off of Claire's body so the Doctor could examine more clearly. After a few swift glances, he could not detect anything wrong with the girl, but her eyes were wide open as if they were blind and searching for light, panting with no precise rhythm. She was continuously moaning 'No…get away' while grasping on the bed sheets as if grasping for her life. "Claire, snap out of it!!" The Doctor tried again, shaking her fragile body lightly, afraid if he did it too hard she might shatter into tiny pieces. Finally Claire settled down, she stopped moving instantly and became calmer. Her breathing evened down to small breaths. Her eyes narrowed and searched the room for something in particular, seeing Doctor, Rick, Cliff, and Elli watching her intently made her blush.

"Hi…" She smiled calmly receiving a frown of frustration from Doctor. Obviously this is the first time he met a situation like this. He held up a small flashlight and moved it left and right, Claire's eyes followed it.

"Her eyes seem to be fine, Claire, could you move?" He asked in concern, Claire looked down to her arms and legs, shaking both of them faintly. The Doctor sighed, "Seems to me that you're okay now. Do you remember what happen just now?"

Claire stared at the ceiling with no true purpose, searching her mind and answered softly, "…Only that I was in the mines digging for orichalc… ORICHALC!! Where is it?? Did I drop it? Is it still here?" Claire panicked, struggling to get up but was harshly pushed back down by the Doctor. Cliff walked to stand closer to Claire and handed her the ore. Claire reached for it and beamed when it was safely in her hands. "Thank you." She breathed out a whisper over and over again before sleeping, but this time there was a serene smile on her face.

The men walked out of the room leaving Elli to look after Claire. They were still dumfounded at what just happened a second ago, how Claire changed from hysterical to calm minded in a flash. Gray suddenly burst through the doors, sweat dripping from his forehead and eyes widened in panic. After listening to another one of Saibara's old men gossip with the Mayor, he was informed that Claire was unconscious and has been carried to the clinic. The 3 other guys in the room looked up as Gray thundered into the patient's room, ready to yell at her for being careless but had to stop after seeing her condition. Gray has never seen her like this before…her usually thin body looked as breakable as ever. Her lips were pale white like a corpse, both cracked and dirty. Her wrists were just bones and flesh and her palms were sore red from clutching onto the hammer too hard. Her hair still had shards of rocks stuck in her hair. Elli moved away giving Gray some space with his friend.

Gray stumbled forward to where his best friend laid unconscious. He could feel his tears leaking as he blamed himself for what happened to her. 'My fault' and 'I should have's' were running through his head as he stared at her broken body.

"I'm sorry Claire…I'm sorry." He whispered next to her ear and whispered an even softer 'Stay with me'.

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If you like what you read, you know the drill. Review and i'll update! :D (Yes, they call me Evil.)


	4. Chapter 3

I'm feeling kinda lazy to write the THANK YOUs like last time and I had this feeling that it was annoying to put them on the A/N thingy, so no more THANK YOUs from now on I guess. But I do thank you for all those people who used up their precious time to review my story. Those who reviewed, you know that I'm talking about you right?

Last Time: Claire and Gray went digging in the mines and it ended with a little argument about allowing Claire to dig by herself unattended. Claire fainted and was rescued by Rick and Cliff, who were sent by Gray. Claire ended up in the clinic and had the same marriage dream, but reacted a little differently this time. Gray barged in and ended the chapter with a cute simple line, 'Stay with me'.

Now: I'm not telling you am I? Read and review folks! XD

Disclaimer: I do not own Harvest Moon.

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Chapter 3

Gray's POV

"Claire! Give me that right now!" I yelled as I marched into her property, probably violating laws but what do I care? She's holding a freakin' ax for Goddess sakes!! She has just been let out for a day and she's already holding a dangerous weapon, what was I suppose to do about that? Luckily, Claire turned to me giving a tired sigh, handing it over in defeat. Pouting her lips like a baby she gave me a dirty look. I ruffled her straight silky hair once which she slapped away before stomping towards the barn. Fortunately, I already did all her farm work for her since morning breaks. She gave a desperate cry when she noticed that all her daily farm chores where done for her by hers truly.

"What are you Gray? A psycho? Are you mentally ill? I can handle small jobs like feeding the animals, milking the cows, and collecting the eggs!! You act as if I'll drop dead the second I lift my finger!!" Claire whined in frustration, ruffling her own hair. I chuckled, reaching out to straighten her hair. But I was scared, scared that she'll one day leave me for good. "Can I collect the honey then?" She begged, giving me the same puppy dog eyes that I both loved and hated so much.

"Bees…I don't know Claire…" I muttered looking at the tree with the honey bees nest. Damn. I forgot to pick it first.

"Awww….C'mon Gray, just this one time and I'll never do it again!!" She pleaded while holding onto my arm and jumping up and down. Goddess, please help me…I have a kid in front of me begging to collect honey. She's worse than Popuri. What was she, five?

"What are you, five?" Boy, she sure changes fast, from being all high and mighty at one point to a whiney brat at the second. I feel like her father, which was not such a good thing since I didn't want to be her father. I want to be her bo…urr…best friend. Yeah, best friends, forever and ever. Bffs. Woo hoo…

"Please Gray…I don't like feeling weak like this…" She started changing her methods from whining to…uhhh…seducing….I think that's what she's doing. She's got that funny look in her eye as she's twirling my hair on her thin finger...Does she want me to die from a heart attack or something?? I immediately shut my eyes, chanting 'She's not there' over and over. For a minute or so I didn't feel anything anymore, wow, maybe chanting does work. I opened one and noticed that Claire wasn't in front of me already but……running for the bee hive!!!

"CLAIRE!!! NO!!!" I roared as loud as I could, sprinting after her. For a weak girl like her she sure runs fast, but I'm still a little faster. I ram into her, a little too hard I believe because we crashed into the trees causing a loud 'BAM'. The bees started flying out of their nest and if my eyes didn't fool me, they were staring directly at us. So I picked Claire up and quickly ran towards Claire's house with the little black and yellow insects trailing behind. I pulled the door open and almost leaped inside while kicking the door shut. The bees swirled around in circles, swearing at us in some tiny bee language. It didn't leave…until it found another prey to pick on. I think it was Won and his stupid magical apples.

"That was close…" I muttered, panting very hard from exhaustion. I looked down in my arms to see if Claire was okay, but instead of seeing her happy that she's safe, her cheeks were puffed and was giving me another dirty look. Now what?

"I could have gotten the honey just fine if you didn't come thrusting into me." She folded her arms tight and looked away, not forgetting to slap my arm once so that I would let her down. I muttered a quiet 'sorry', which she heard because she answered back a 'It's okay…'

"Gray?" She called, looking up to stare directly at my face.

"…yeah?"

"You don't need to try so hard…you know that right?" She reached out to touch my face. Stroking my cheek up and down in comfort.

"Try what?" I blushed lightly, touching her hand that was on my cheek.

"Protecting me…I know I'm not the most reliable person in the world, but I'll try to take better care of myself…I don't want you taking care of me forever. You have been for 2 years already…I'm a big girl Gray. "

Oh how much I wanted to believe those words that escaped her lips, how much I wanted to trust what she said was true, but I can't escape the feeling that she's always going to get hurt by her own hands. I sighed despairingly, closing my eyes and leaning my face into her small palms. I could hear her delicate smile as she starts stretching my cheeks, she loves to do that whenever she gets the chance.

"Gray?" she called again.

"Hmm?" My eyes were closed, if only time could stop right at this very moment.

"Maybe you should go to work now, it's almost 10."

I hesitated, leaving her on the farm? She could do anything if I left her alone, forget about chopping wood, she'll climb mountains and roll down a cliff if she's desperate.

Claire could probably read the hesitation on my face because she started blabbering, destroying my good mood and comfortable stance. "I'll go into town! I'll go to the inn, hang out with Ann, go down to the beach to pick some herbs and maybe go visit Carter and Cliff at the Church. You can walk me to town if you don't believe me. You can even walk me to the-"

"Okay okay!! I believe you!! Shut up already, my ears are going to burst if you babble anymore. Geez." I dramatically hit my ears checking if I'm deaf. She laughed and punched my arm…hard. So unfair, I hit her light and she'll hit back twice the strength. "Don't forget to swing by the inn for my birthday!!" I shouted back as I ran out from Claire's house.

Claire's POV

"HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!" Ann burst out laughing, clutching her stomach as she rolled on her bedroom floor. I'm starting to regret talking to Ann about my dream problem. Maybe I should go talk to Popuri……no, she'll start recommending me to eat eggs to get rid of bad dreams. I couldn't go to Doctor either since he may tell Gray about it, Cliff's no help, Mary doesn't know crap about dreams, Kai isn't here either…my friends suck and so do my dreams.

"Gray?" She asked again, flicking away a tear, "Do you like him?"

"Goddess, no! He's my friend, how could you ever think that?" I quickly rejected, I know I kissed him once and told Ann, but I didn't feel anything towards him at all. Luckily, Gray didn't feel anything too so we both just called it a one time accident. Ann examined my face for a few more moments, clicking her tongue and pursing her lips.

"Well let's see, you once kissed him, and now you have been dreaming about him, thrice now. Honestly, if I don't know you two, I would have thought you two were an item. You and Gray are the weirdest best friend couple that I have met. Giving each other pats on the back and a high five is friend, but dreams and kisses are _so_ not friends. And you're dreaming about marrying him!! You know, I think it may come true one day if you dream like this for five times or so…bla-bla-bla" Ann blabbed on about dreams and junk, but I wasn't really listening to her, when did she learn 'Dream Junk 101'?

…Five times huh? Great, at least it happened only three times right now. Hopefully it'll stop. Glancing back at her she hasn't even shut up yet so I secretly tiptoed out, waving Doug a 'good-bye'. I inhaled the fresh winter air, shuddering a little from the coldness. I hugged and tightened my winter cloak a little tighter and began trudging in the snow to go the beach as I promised Gray I would. Walking towards Rose Square I came across Cliff, looking similar to a sickly pale color, was he feeling nauseous?

"H…i…" I heard him said something I think…it was so soft and there's wind whistling in my ear, I would have had bio-sonic ears if I could hear him, but I swore I saw him moving his lips. So I just waved back and smile, going down to the Rose Square. As I turned right to enter the beach, I heard something drop down on the floor with a 'thump'. I spun around and almost shrieked as I saw Cliff dead on the cold hard cement floor. I walked as quickly as I can (I'm scared on slipping if I run) and bended down holding Cliff's face up to my lap. His lips were cold blue, literary BLUE!! He was panting faster than normal healthy people do and his cheeks were apple red. (Was he blushing even when half dead??)

"It…" he muttered, almost giving me a heart attack. I thought he was unconscious!! "It was…snowing that day…too…" and he went out cold. Something dropped out from his hands…it was a picture…a family picture. There was Cliff, a little girl, and a grown woman next standing next to him. They were all smiling to the camera, they looked so happy. I once wanted something like that………oh goddess, what am I doing? I'm supposed to help him!! I looked around myself, hoping that someone may come walking to Rose Square. I would even be grateful if it was Manna and her gang of desperate gossiping housewives trotting in the snow here. I wouldn't even mind if it was Karen and her major attitudes problems, even if she hates me she would at least help the poor guy out right?

xxx

"_Hey! Hey you!" Some 'pretty, sexy, man-eater image giver girl' aka Karen, walked up to Claire sending out bad vibes to the new farmer. She walked straight up to the blonde resident with a mean attitude and looked at Claire from head to toe. Her mouth twisted in disgust. Her long blond hair, fair pearl skin, big aqua liquid blue eyes, slightly pink cheeks, and vulnerable body, how much she envies this girl in front of her, what's worse, her boyfriend, Rick, seemed to have developed a small interest in this new farmer. She was outraged when she saw Rick staring at Claire as she walked past them._

"_You think you could just come to MY town and steal MY boyfriend don't you? You and your repulsive banana-colored hair should just stay away from me and Rick if you don't want to get hurt." She threatened, expecting the girl to tremble, cry, and run away, sadly for her, she just got one mad and pissed-off farmer. _

"_Excuse me?? Who the hell are YOU telling me what to do and who to talk to or not?" She asked, anger rising to the top. If she literary had a list of hated things, being shouted at or lectured would be the second. "And when have I ever stolen anyone's boyfriend around here, huh? Rick?? Why on Earth would I want him?? You are just plain hideous to have the NERVE of coming up to me and squawking gibberish in my face! Get your facts straight you stupid cow and maybe people won't think that you're some ditz who's in love with a chicken fanatic! Since you're in the position of being obsessively and psychotically jealous, I'd point my finger in the direction of the chickens that he devotes oh so much time towards like say 24 hours a day instead of me who he's met for 20 minutes. Oh, and one more thing, if you trespass onto MY property, yeah that piece of ground that you're standing on incase you don't know what the word 'property' means, again then don't think I'm just going to stand here and take it. I've got an axe that I'm pretty capable of using and who would ever believe that a delicate little blonde girl like me would purposely injure you? So out of my way, I have this thing to do called 'work' incase you're not familiar with that term since you've got so much time to be making up funny ideas in your head."_

_Karen stuttered, for the first time in her life, she was unable to come up with a single word to rebuke this delicate blonde who at this instant was glowering with a gaze so penetrating that it was hard to believe that such a stare could've been generated by someone of her appearance. As Claire pushed past Karen towards town, all Karen can do was stare after and mutter incomprehensive vulgar words under her breath concerning a provocative acts towards Claire's mother._

xxx

I was shivering from the biting cold and the adrenaline I felt that time when I fought with Karen. I looked down at Cliff and he's looking a bit worse every minute, I shouldn't be sitting here like a bumbling idiot!! I should be trying to get him to the clinic! I got up, holding Cliff's hands tightly and pulled him…_tried_ to pull though. He was Goddessdamn heavy!! I know I'm not the one that's weak, he's just plain HEAVY!! What does he weigh? A ton? As I continue to struggle I heard a familiar 'Ahem' from the back of my head. I shifted a bit to get a good look at the person and what do you know?

Surprise, surprise…it's Karen…

She was smirking at me like how she always does. Sashaying towards me, she flipped her dung-color hair and grinned. How I hope she would fall down flat on her face onto the hard snowy cement floor and end up with broken crooked teeth that looks like piranha's jaws. I would point at her and laugh every time people weren't looking if she asks why I'm laughing I'll answer her back, 'You know why!' –evil inner laugh-

"Whatcha' doing Claire?" She stupidly asks, isn't it obvious that I'm trying to get Cliff to the clinic?

"Karen, you mind helping me out here?" I asked, Karen's eyes narrowed as she asked back, "And why should I help you Claire? You never did anything for me and I always hear about you boasting about your strength. Why not use that strength of yours to-"

"C'mon Karen, would you let Cliff stay out here in the cold and die? He's sick most likely and I need your help to get him to the clinic!" I nearly shrieked at her in frustration. Couldn't she be smart for once? "Please Karen?" I ended. She didn't reply or do anything so I gave up and tried to pull him again, but just before I dropped him, another pair of hands shot out to catch Cliff.

"Thank you…" I muttered as we both continued to pull Cliff to the clinic in the cold winter's night.

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You like it? Review please! I'll try to fix my little laptop virus problem and update the next chapter by next week as usual.

And since I'm not sure if i'll keep you waiting or not, i'll give a little hint about next chapter...*cough* 2nd Argument *cough*

That's enough. Hehehe. See you next week!! :D


	5. Chapter 4

A/N: THANK YOU for all those who reviewed my last chapter!! I hope you enjoy this chapter as well~

Last: Claire had to help Cliff to the clinic at the time of Gray's birthday party, Karen, Claire's enemy, helped.

Disclaimer: I dont own Harvest Moon.

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Chapter 4

I sighed next to Cliff's lifeless body, he was truly sick and was still unconscious after being pulled to the clinic. The Doctor asked me to stay with Cliff for a moment while he went towards the mountain to get some herbs he was missing. Elli wasn't here already in the first place. The white medical room was utterly silent, one could even hear their own heartbeat if they stay quietly enough. I sighed again as I took out the present box that I prepared for today…Gray's birthday. I needed to go there, I wanted to go there. I already prepared his gift, wrapped with a bow and everything! I paid 100 gold for this piece of color paper! I looked over at Cliff, got up and walked over to the metal bucket the Doctor put on the table. I took the wet cloth out and squeezed all the water out before placing it on Cliff's scorching forehead. He flinched a bit before calming down again. Hopefully Karen will do as I ask.

xxx

"_Karen, you're going to Gray's birthday party right?" Claire asked, looking down at Cliff._

"_Yeah, so?"_

"_Mind telling Gray that I'm not able to go? Tell him that I'm stuck here in the clinic."_

"…_sure." And Karen left without another word._

xxx

At the party

Gray's POV

Where the hell is Claire?? I looked around the room again, searching for the little mighty blonde farmer. There was Mary, Doug, Ann, Anna, Basil, Gramps, Rick, Elli, Karen, Manna, Duke, Jeff, and Sasha…no Claire. What if she broke her promise and went digging again? What of she took a hike in the mountains and fell off a cliff?? What if she broke the ice in the lake at Mother's Hill and drowns to death??? What if the Kappa ate her up????

Screw this party! I'm going to look for her! I made my way towards the door, who cares about having a party when your best friend isn't here? I almost reached the door when I ran into Mary.

"Gray! Where are you going?" She asked, her eyes wide in curiosity. She's cute..."Are-are you going somewhere? In the middle of your birthday party?"

"Umm…I need to do something…" I mumbled, tilting my cap to hide my face. I was about to walk out again when Karen called my name.

"Gray! Come here first." She ordered, wiggling her finger from the bar, what the hell? If she wanted to talk to me she should be the one coming here, not me going there. I huffed and walked over to the bar. I bet she just came here to drink like usual, not to attend my party. Oh wait, there was actually only a few who really intended on congratulating me for aging another year. I don't want a party in the first place!! I know it must be either Claire's or Ann's idea. "A little bird told me…that you were leaving your own party."

"Yeah, so? I need to do something."

"Don't you think you're getting way too attached to Claire?" She asked hitting my sore spot. I turned away from her. She narrowed her green emerald eyes and took a sip off her wine bottle.

"I don't know what you're talking about." I answered, I have had enough of this, I'm leaving. I started to make my way back to the door again when Karen said softly.

"She's not coming Gray."

I stopped dead in my tracks. Oh Goddess, what did she mean by that? I slowly turned around and saw her smirking. Did she hurt Claire?

"She's not dead or anything, don't be such a worry wart Gray. She's not even hurt, but don't you notice something rather odd?" She got up and walked over to me, holding my shoulder.

"And what may that be?" I asked.

"Cliff. Cliff isn't here is he?" She asked, smiling sweetly with pleasure. I scanned the room again to see if she was right…she was. Cliff wasn't here and so is Claire. "Aww…poor Gray, his beloved friend isn't here and so his roommate. What on Earth could that mean? Could they be dating and purposely forgotten to tell you? Hmm…" She caressed my shoulders slightly making a thoughtful look.

Claire was with Cliff? When did they ever start seeing each other? I could feel the anger rising up as images of Claire and Cliff passed through my head. Claire ditched my birthday to go hang out with some…some…some BEGGER??

"Go to Mary why don't you? She's waiting for you." Karen whispered into my ear and sashayed back to the bar. Hurt, I automatically walked over to Mary as if I was a robot being controlled by Karen. I smiled slightly when I reached Mary and she smiled shyly back. I gave her my hand and we both walked back to the bar to get drinks. But the rest of that night, it wasn't as enjoyable as I planned it to be, I did receive a few gifts, but none were the things that I would need anyway…and none are from the person I wanted a gift from the most. Don't get me wrong, I like Mary but for the past years, she has always given me herbs and tea leaves. Last year when Claire had just arrived here, she had given me an adamanite, the perfect ore I needed…

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The Next Day…

Claire's POV

I woke up to the smell of medicine, herbs, and floor polish. _Where was I? _I looked around the room and found myself sleeping next to the patient's bed where Cliff was sleeping soundly, a warm wool blanket was draped over my body and I was hugging a pillow…Cliff's pillow…I glanced back at Cliff and realized that he didn't have a pillow…damn. I took a sick person's pillow.

I gently lifted Cliff's heavy head and lay it back down when I snuck a pillow back under. He looked a lot more comfortable now. I stretched my arms and gave a long sigh, that wasn't the best night I had. Something fell from my lap as I got up and I noticed it was Gray's present, I missed his party…at least he knows why I missed it. He shouldn't be too mad that I was kept at the clinic.

* * *

"WELL EXCUSE ME FOR RUINING YOUR STUPID BIRTHDAY PARTY!! HERE'S YOUR PRESENT!!" I shrieked back into Gray's room, throwing the stupid rock in a box at him, actually aiming at his head. Bulls-eye!! It hit him with a giant 'whack' that made him fall backwards. The nerve of that guy!! Accusing me of breaking my promise with him and leaving him to play doctor and nurse with Cliff!!! URGHHHHH!!! I could just-

"TAKE THIS BACK, I DON'T WANT IT!!" Gray poked his head back out the door and threw it down the rail…hitting me right in the head…bulls-eye. Picking the box up I crumbled it, obviously forgetting one fatal fact…a sharp crystal-like stone is in there.

"OWW!!" I cried, spreading my palms to see the damage, a few cuts and blood…greatttttt…annoyed at the innocent rock, I threw it back up and stormed out of the inn waving a goodbye bluntly as I passed Ann and Doug, clearly hearing my conversation with Gray. It wasn't the quietest chat we ever had.

As I walked, people were making way for the miniature mighty blond storm, or little ol' me. Elli jumped as I kicked the door open and strode into the Doctor's office, who was examining Cliff……hey, don't have any dirty ideas!! When I said examine, I mean making Cliff say 'Ahhh' and Doctor looking into the throat, not body/physical examine.

I raised up my palms to show the Doc my cuts and blood, he frowned and sighed, walking over to look at my hands. Cliff jumped down from the solid 'bed' and walked over to see my palms too. Wow, if I knew that cut up palms drive guys wild, I would have done this everyday. –sarcastic inner laugh-

"Cuts look a little dirty, what did you do?" The doc asked, still examining my 'sexy' cut palms. Well, why lie? What's there to hide huh? So I answered his question with ease, "I tried to break a sharp ore with my bare fists."

The Doctor looked up at me as if I were some bimbo in a clown suit saying that I intended to hurt myself by hitting my hands with a sharp boulder or some sort. Cliff was giving me the same look. I stared back at the both of them giving them a 'You got a problem with me?' look. Cliff immediately turned the other way, the Doctor walked back to his desk…swiftly. Was I that menacing? The Doctor came back with alcohol, cotton balls, and clean cloth. He dipped the cotton into the transparent liquid that was known for hurting people and pressed it onto my scratched palms. I gave out a scream when I felt the cold pain stabbing my hand. Oh my Goddess, and he's going to do the same thing to the other hand??

"Sorry…" He muttered and pressed the other wet cotton onto my other hand. I clenched my teeth, preventing myself from screaming. I could feel small tear drops swelling in my eyes as both my hands felt like they were on cold fire. He gently wrapped the cloth on my hands and tied it into a knot to prevent it from being too loose. "Well, you're free to go Claire and try not to crush rocks with your bare fist again. You know what would happen again if you do." He said, shaking the intimidating crystal-clear liquid in front of my face. I pouted and said a soft thank you before exiting the clinic, not forgetting to pay Doctor and wave goodbye to Elli, Cliff, and Doctor.

I looked up into the cold, blue sky and smiled to myself as glistening snowflakes blew past me towards the church. I breathed in and breathed out two to three times, admiring the white puff of fog that exited my dried lips. I looked down at my hands and my mood turned sour again, damn the ore, now how was I suppose to take care of my livestock?? I started making my way to my farm, lost in my own thoughts. Gray and I most likely won't be talking for some time…

7 Days passed…

Winter 30th

Gray's POV

Would it be gay of me if I say that I feel like a 'withered rose that's dying' or a 'withered wrinkly stressed grandma'? Because that's exactly how I feel right now, old, withered, battered, stressed, and did I mention old? I haven't talked to Claire for one full week…ONE FULL WEEK!!!! Karen _was _right, I'm too attached to Claire!! She's like a drug that I'm addicted to!! The longest time I didn't talk to Claire was 2 days, the 3rd day either me or Claire would come around the other one's place and say 'Hi' before leaving to do whatever we got to do. That would have been enough already…but this…I don't see her in town, I don't see her at her farm, I tried to leave during the day to go find her in the forest but to my luck, the old man wouldn't let me out.

Today's New Years Eve already, sadly it's snowing out and Thomas voted on celebrating in the inn with drinks and dancing. It seems like people weren't too happy about that seeing how they all had gloomy grumpy looks fixed on their faces. Me? I don't really care much about it, there's always next year, it's not like I'm moving anywhere anyways. I'm stuck with the old fart and his crappy shop till the end of my life. Whoopee…

And just when it couldn't get any worst, another blizzard had just blown the door open for what could be the 10th time, it also seems that another unfortunate Thomas-forced villager had made it to this poor pity party. I was bored seeing people stumble in with the cold so I turned my back to the door and took a gulp at my drink. Mary was in front of me huddled in a winter cloak, glasses fogged up, and reading a book. She looks well-prepared, next to her was 2 more books, a box of Kleenex, and herbal tea in a water canister. Manna, Anna, and Sasha were still gossiping, they were at it since they arrived here. Basil was drinking with Saibara at another table. Karen was wooing chicken boy at the bar, her face red from drinking too much. Duke was in another corner harassing Jeff, probably about his bills. Barley wasn't here, neither were Ellen, May, and Stu. Harris was standing in a corner staring at Goddess knows what. Thomas was walking around the inn babbling about crap to anyone who was willing to listen. Ann was 'flirting' with Cliff, or I don't know if it could really be called flirting, she's delivering lines to him like 'Are you wearing space pants? Because your butt is out of this world!' Gotz was probably at the door helping the newcomer close the door. Carter was…just being Carter himself I guess, smiling creepily to anyone who passes by him. Doug was the bartender as usual.

"Thanks Gotz, but I can close this stupid door myself without anyone's help. Watch me!!"

"…okay"

If anyone here in this town is really proud of their pride and loves to flex her muscles to anyone who would look, that would be Claire the mighty farmer. I spun around instantly and saw a petite little blonde woman pushing the door with all her might, not really succeeding, and Gotz looking at Claire in a tiresome manner. Have I ever mentioned that Claire loves to go challenge Gotz in the woods to a wood cutting race and get her butt kicked every time?

Gotz sighed and slightly pushed the door closed without letting Claire notice, if she ever does notice she throws her famous hissy fit. Claire's jaws dropped as the door closes and regained her powerful posture again when she faced Gotz.

"See? I told you I could do it, maybe later in Spring we could have another race, huh? Whaddya say big guy?" She asked the carpenter while winking and elbowing his stomach. I couldn't help but chuckle at her. Once she heard me, she froze and marched straight up to my face, eyes crossed, hair wild, nostrils flaring…oh great, what did I do now?

"You…" She said her voice an octave lower than usual, this meant that she had a problem with me. "Why didn't you talk to me for a week huh?? You wussy!! Just because I hurt your little feelings you decided to throw a sissy fit at me and ignore me?? Who gave YOU the right?? Did you know how bored I was?"

"What?? When did I ever ignore you?? I went to your farm for days and you were never there!! Who gave _YOU_ the right to ignore me too, huh?" I shouted back at her, her face went sullen, she pouted her lips and clicked her tongue.

"You went to my farm?" She asked and I nodded. "…Why didn't you wait there?" She crossed her arms and I sighed gradually. Couldn't we just forgive each other and be done with this?

"I had work to do too you know. Why didn't_ you_ go visit _me_?" I retorted. She gulped and answered, "…I also got work to do." Piff. Yeah right, I bet she had too much pride to even come visit me.

"_Riiiight_. _Sure _Claire." I grinned at her and she puffed her cheeks.

"I did too have work to do!! I'm a very hard-working, diligent, beautiful farmer that works everyday without taking a day off." She crossed her arms and turned her face the other way. I smiled slightly, feels so good to be talking to her again. Sometimes drugs are good for you, body and soul.

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Yay! They finally forgave each other! Wait till next week for the next chapter!! XD

REVIEW IF YOU LIKE!! (tell your friends if you like. :D)


	6. Chapter 5

A/N: I am SO sorry you guys, but this chapter is going to be short. (800+ only!! Very sorry. T.T) I couldnt possibly think of anything else for this chapter, so i'll try to make another chapter longer next time.

Btw, thank you you guys for all of your reviews!! (Mostly about Karen's evilness though. lol XD)

Disclaimer: You know the drill.

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Chapter 5

Claire's POV

"So Gray, what _did_ you do for the past week? Except for missing the 'Awesome Claire' of course." I asked, tipping the drink that Ann served to everyone a few seconds ago. This is really good stuff, well, anything is good I suppose when one doesn't have to pay for it. It seems like everyone's drinking this weird fizzy purple liquid. I drank the whole glass in one gulp and gave out a satisfying sigh. "Ann!! Can I have another?" I shouted across the room, Ann looked at me blankly and shouted back, "You sure? Do you know what's in it?" Heck, like I care. Everybody here knows that Doug serves only wine and virginity safe drinks. (Milk, juice, anything that helps you keeps your virginity.)

"Claire, I don't think-" Gray started, what was he, my dad?? I hushed him, stopping him from…stopping me. -inner giggle- That sounded funny.

"What are we…nuns? We're young, beautiful…well, I am of course…ladies who deserve the night off of work!! So I'm drinking this place to the last drop." I smirked and grabbed the glass off of Ann's hands when she handed it to me.

"Were you calling me a lady?" Gray asked with a shock expression across his face. I giggled playfully and pinched his cheeks, they were starting to redden every time he took a sip of the drink.

"Why yes, yes I am. You are a young, independent, beautiful woman that works next to hot ovens and a sexy grandfather." I teased him, he grunted and muttered, "I'll take that as a compliment."

"Can I have your attention here please?" Fatso raised his voice, clinking a silver spoon onto the Champaign glass to get everyone's attention. It seems like everyone's face is as red as a cherry now, just like me and Gray.

"C'mon Gray, we need to go to the front row to listen to what Tubby has got to say." I got up dizzily and tugged on Gray's arm, wow, the boy got muscles to spare!! Wonder if he's got six packs…mmmmm…six packssss.

"Mmmmmhmmmm……" Gray moaned and got up after me, allowing me to drag him out of his seat. We both giddily walked across the room to get to Thomas who was standing on a high stool in front of the counters, passing Carter who whispered some freaky mysterious words into both Grey and my ears.

"Hope you both will be happy with your decisions, I know you will."

"…" Gray and I stared at Carter for a few seconds before wandering away, far away from the weirdly disturbing priest. "Oh Goddess Gray, have you ever got the feeling that Carter is the scariest man alive? I mean, I know he's been a priest for a long time and everything but that man is seriously whacked!!" I whispered to Gray and received a mere nod back.

"Another year has passed us, tomorrow it will be Spring again. The flower buds that slept throughout the cold disastrous winter will awaken and bloom, the butterflies will hatch from their pupas and the Harvest Goddess will greet the warmth back for us again! Tomorrow the festival will surely be held in Rose Square as usual so don't forget to come. Cheers!!!" Thomas raised his glass and everyone who were still awake rose theirs back to him. 'Hoorays' 'Happy New Year' and 'Whoopee' s were shouted and echoed throughout the entire room.

"Another year, another drink Gray!!" We locked arms and quenched down the liquid in one fluid movement in one shot. I 'ahh'ed, wiping the remains away from my lips. I noticed Gray was staring at me so I turned back to him and smiled. Ann walked pass us offering another drink, I took two glasses for both me and Gray. "To our long, happy, and whacked friendship. Best friends forever Gray!! Woohoooo!!!" I squealed in delight and swallowed down the whole drink. Gray lingered for a moment before following my lead. As the moon waded on the black sinister skies, we partied till…I don't know till when actually, but it was the best night I ever had for a long time. With Gray at my side, I will never shed a tear again.

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Well, I think the ending of the chapter sucks...then again, the whole chapter sucks kind of, but please continue to review!! (I'm review hungry. I need to know what people think about my writing.) I'll try to post the next chapter faster!! Promise!! :D


	7. Chapter 6

A/N: YAY!! Chapter 6 is doneeeeee. I would like to thank you everyone who STILL reviewed my last chapter even though it was so short and said that it was good. Anywhooo~ Let's get on with the story shall we?

Last time: Claire and Gray celebrated at the inn for the last day of winter party and got drunk.

This time: Claire's in for a big surprise.......O.O;;

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Chapter 6

'_DO YOU CLAIRE??!!' Everyone shouted at me with their fire filled eyes, yellow topaz fangs and ruby colored faces. Their twisted hands were searching their way to get a hold on her. _

'_NOOOOOOOO!!!!' Claire screamed before it all turned pitched dark…she floated and tumbled in the cold sinister space, her body cooled down from the flames. Her eyes open, but only slightly, to see a gold light shining on her finger. _

Claire's POV

I shot up like a bullet, a little too fast because a small headache came after. I clutched my forehead to halt the wobbly feeling in my head. Ugh…I shouldn't have drank all that liquid last night at the party........wait, di-did I just had that psychotic dream about marriage again…for the 4th time_??(_A/N: _She didn't know that she dreamt it once when she was at the clinic, CHAPTER 2)_ Crap…I'm not in the mood to be dealing with this…I collapsed back into my pillow and squished it tight. It was early morning (6 am) as usual and right now I'm in my humble abode nestling under my sheets with a pillow each tucked under my arm and under my head…with a guy next to me hugging my waist…that guy was Gray. It took me a few milliseconds to process what kind of situation I was in and a few more seconds to react.

"ARGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!! WHAT THE FUDGE??!!!"

I rolled away from his arms screaming as if a snake just bit my ass and rolled completely off the bed and onto the cold hard wood floor. I shrieked as my back touched the coldness and scrambled back into bed...not forgetting to kick Gray down. He yelped as he fell, face down first, onto the floor. Serves him right!

"WHAT THE HELL??" He shouted looking around the new unusual setting. I closed my eyes shut, unable to bear the revolting picture of Gray naked. "WHAT IS THIS?? CLAIRE!! WHAT HAPPENED??" Gray shouted at me, how was I supposed to know you retard??!! I'm in the same sick situation as you!!!

"AUGHHH!!! GET SOME CLOTHES ON GRAY!!!" I clamored at him, digging under the sheets to hide my figure and protect my eyes. I waited until he would say that he was done but to my surprise, the only thing he said was…

"Claire, open your eyes." Gray instructed, was he bloody mad??!! Open my eyes?? What kind of pervert _was _he_??!!_

"Open my eyes?? What kind of perverted blacksmith are you??!!"

"Just open your eyes Claire." He instructed once again, now I'm pissed.

"FUDGE YOU GRAY, FUDGE YOU!!!!" I swore at him. Hell, I'll break his neck if he tells me to open my eyes again.

"Claire, we're still clothed. I'm not naked and neither are you dammit!" He seethed, I poked my head out of my blanket and it seems he was right, we weren't naked.

"Why are you here then? Huh? Molesting me??" I ordered

"Hell no! How the hell do you jump to these absurd conclusions?? No, I was not molesting you!! And what the hell is 'fudge'??"

"I'm abstaining myself from swearing this year and _excuse me _for 'jumping to the wrong conclusions' but what was I supposed to think?? I wake up at freaking 6am in the morning expecting to be by myself as usual but to my surprise I find YOUR arm wrapped around MY waist and your fire exposed, metal molding, tool making BODY next to mine! You'd better have a clue as to what you were doing in my bed last night and if we did anything or so help me Gray, I won't care that we just made up 11 hours ago, I'll beat you with a hammer and bury you alive on my own farm land!" I threatened, standing on the bed just to make him see how much taller and advantageous I am right now. I could just take out one of my tools and whack it on his head. Even a water can could be deadly right now.

"_I'm _supposed to come up with an explanation? Did you forget that I drank as much as you yesterday? And did it even occur to you that I probably couldn't remember anything either? So why don't YOU come up with some fantastic explanation??"

"Because I wasn't sleeping in YOUR bed! And I'm a girl!"

"What does sex have to do with anything??"

"WHAT?! SEX??" I cried, reaching for my axe that I kept in my rucksack.

"Geez Claire, that's not what I meant! Put that axe away! I meant 'gender'!!"

"You'd better mean 'gender'…" I said slowly and menacingly as I put my axe back into my rucksack, giving Grey one last threatening glance before completely hiding the sharp object away from his view. When I glanced back at my hand that was obscured in darkness inside my bag, I noticed something sparkling dimly on my hand as the light from the windows inside my house came in contact with it. As angry as I was at that moment, I could not help but be distracted and curious about the small shiny object. Being annoyingly curious is one of my bad habits so I quickly pulled my hand out of the bag, expecting to be holding some undiscovered gold coin, but instead, found a gold ring glinting in the light. On normal circumstances, I would be ecstatic to have found a beautiful piece of jewelry such as this but not at this moment because the ring was fitted tightly on the ring finger of my left hand.

"WHAT THE FUCK?!" I screamed at the top of my lungs. This can NOT be happening, this cannot be happening!! I shook my head over and over and collapsed to the floor, my eyes never leaving the wedding band.

--

"Claire wake up, c'mon…please wake up." Gray pleaded after watching his friend fainted into oblivion in a matter of seconds. He nearly fainted after, instead he bent down and started smacking Claire's cheek lightly to make her regain conscious. It did work, but the result from Claire wasn't as grateful as he thought she should be. Instead of acting normal and getting up, she slapped Gray's face away from her sight. "Oww!! Claire, what the hell?? What's that for?" Gray shouted as he touched his red check with Claire's handprint on it. _Good, there's something to remember me by. _Claire thought as she watched Gray's face in disgust.

"You know why." She groaned, gradually getting up and scanning the scenery to see if she was still in her home. The fainted scent of burnt wood and soot from the brick fireplace wafted through the entire room calming everyone who was in the scent's radius. The blue tiled kitchen was still standing with all her utensils were piled neatly together with no stains in sight. The neatly kept bookshelf was still organized in Claire's usual color patterns and the beat up TV was still in the same location. The golden brick tiled floors are cool beneath her body and the wooden walls gave out a familiar woodsy atmosphere. _Yep, home sweet home…everything was in perfect order…except for the fact that I have a freakin' wedding ring on my finger!! _Claire inaudibly cried out in terror when her thoughts came back to the smooth gold ring on her wedding finger.

"Gray, check your finger." Claire ordered watching him intensely. Gray, who was still clueless about the whole marriage situation, checked his right hand since that was the hand he was more accustomed to. The blond frustrated girl smacked her own forehead and groaned for the second time. "Your left hand you retard!! Do you having a fucking wedding ring like this??" She yelled at him, pointing at her own shiny banana-color ring that was glued to her wedding finger. He stared at it with a puzzled expression for a brief second before checking his own finger. And there it was, a gold ring brightly shining to the whole world sitting serenely on his wedding finger.

Gray gawked at the gold ring on his finger, he didn't know how to react but there was one thing he knew, something about being married to the girl in front of him gave him a happy content feeling. His facial expression changed from shock to a small smile, but after catching a glance of Claire's murderous expression he had to quickly change back to shock and displeased. He coughed and scratched his head, clearly ignorant to what he was supposed to say to please the little farmer.

"Umm…crap…we're married…?" Gray stuttered, chuckling at his own voice. He never really thought that the idea of being married to his best friend and first love would pleasure him so. Sadly for him, it was obviously clear that Claire didn't share the same perspective on the situation.

"Is that _all_ you have to say, Gray? '_Umm…crap…we're married…?'_? No Gray, we're not married. Apparently Thomas thought it would be fun to give away free gold rings for New Year and we stupidly wore them on our marriage finger by mistake……Hey…" Claire prattled on and on about Gray's comment on the whole problem when suddenly her face light up as if she just had an epiphany.

"What?"

"Maybe that's just it!! Maybe tubby _did_ give out free gold rings and we accidentally wore them on our marriage fingers by mistake! Yeahhh……that makes sense." Claire mumbled to herself and laughed hysterically giving the heart-broken blacksmith a shock when his friend turned crazy. Claire who was laughing turned back to Gray with a foolish smile across her face, grabbing hold on his wrists she said, "Let's go back to the inn!" And with that she dragged Gray out the door, the farm, and towards the inn at full speed.

--

"Gold rings? For free? Gee, it would have been nice if he did give out any last night." Doug laughed as he and his only daughter, Ann, was sweeping the inn up after last night's party. "No, there weren't any free gold rings last night. I'm 100% sure since there were only me and Ann that had enough sense in us to know what was going on. Everyone other than us, including you two, were drunk! But then again, if something good happened, I wasn't there to see it since I was in the back."

Claire and Gray exchanged looks tiredly, Doug was supposedly their only hope that should know what was going on yesterday. Just then, Ann who was upstairs noticed Claire and Gray and ecstatically skipped downstairs while humming the wedding theme song loudly.

"Well if it isn't the bride and groom. Here again for a little celebration drink?" Ann asked, grinning at the blacksmith and the farmer who were both dumbfounded and confused at the inn daughter's words. There were only Claire, Gray, Doug, and Ann in the whole room so the only pair that could have been the bride and groom were Claire and Gray, since if Ann and Doug were the bride and groom it would just be downright disgusting.

"What do you mean bride and groom, Ann?" Claire asked, pushing Gray out of the way to get to the red-haired girl on the stairs. Ann's eyebrows rose in shock and she asked, "Didn't you two know what was going on? You two got married yesterday. But then again, no one really knew what was going on, being drunk and all? So I guess the only people who would remember are me and Carter." Ann exclaimed, crossing her arms and tilting her head. "You two did the whole ring and vow thing perfectly though for drunk people. I didn't know why Carter had two rings though but he did and now you are officially married! It's just like your dre-ump!" Claire quickly covered Ann's mouth with her hand before the red-head could say more. Ann frowned at her friend but had to stay quiet when the farmer shot her a threatening look.

"Gray, let's go visit Carter. I'll see you guys later." With that Claire grabbed hold Gray's wrist again and stalked out of the inn.

--

-BAM-

Claire who was still enraged at the whole situation pushed the heavy door open with one blow and marched inside the silent church with heavy and powerful steps. She stood in front of Cliff who was at his regular pew and ordered him to get out. Cliff of course had to obey since he had no backbone and it seemed that if he objects even the tiniest bit, his head would get chopped off by the blonde's ax. Claire scanned the entire church for the priest, but he was no where to be seen. Gray coughed to get her attention and pointed to the confession room. Claire was about to kick the door down when Gray stopped her. He sighed, sure Claire was frustrated with the whole situation, but somehow he thinks that Claire was going a little too overboard.

"Claire, don't you think you're going a little too overboard?"

"Overboard?? Gray, are you _bloody mad_? We're freaking married!! Commitment! Hitched! Tie the knot! If you think that I'm going overboard then you pal, are seriously whacked!" She shoved Gray out of the way and slammed her fist at the wooden door. "Carter, come out…please!"

The priest did so, opening the door and sliding out into the open. Claire crossed her arms and put on her best 'I got a problem with you' face she could think of. Gray stifled a laugh, tapping Claire on the shoulder to get her to stop. Seeing that her expression wasn't as threatening as it was suppose to be, Claire stopped.

"I suppose you're both here to talk about what happened last night."

"Damn-uh, I mean…Yes." Claire quickly changed her way of talking, she never really dared to talk to Carter like how she talks to other people. Somehow, Claire likes to think that Carter sends out weird vibes saying that he could kill her in her sleep if she's not polite in front of him.

"Why are we married Carter?" Gray asked, pulling Claire to sit down next to him on the pews before she explodes from pressure or something.

"Well, that was your decision, both of your decisions. I was merely the one who did the ceremony."

"…What the fudge?? WE NEVER AGREED ON MARRYING ONE ANOTHER!!" Claire screamed at Carter. Carter didn't flinch one bit, instead he calmly stated, "I knew this was coming, the Goddess has bestowed to me the vision of your marriage. She said that it would all work out when she provided me the two rings that are now on your finger." Gray was listening to Carter calmly, for the first time he didn't react so loud and vocal as he usually did in other situations, it was probably because he didn't mind much about the whole marriage thing. He knew he would have reacted differently if the girl screaming next to him was someone other than Claire.

"Bullshit!! This whole crap about Goddess and marriage is bullshit!! We were drunk! It couldn't have been official!!" She couldn't take it anymore, her emotions ran wild, taking over her mouth, making her say everything that was going on in her mind. "Divorce us!! I don't want this shit marriage, take it away!!" She screamed, tears of fury were starting to leak. She started to pull on the ring but to her disappoinment, it won't budge the tiniest bit. Instead, it started to get more tighter and tighter. Gray watched her painfully, his heart twisted in hurt and sorrow seeing the girl he once and still loved hated the fact of being married to him. He reached out and gently took Claire into his arms. She cried on his shoulder, flooding his shirt with tears, she just couldn't deal with the fact that she was married.

--

It was 6pm in the evening, everyone was at the New Year Festival at Rose Square, celebrating the first day of Spring with buckwheat noodles…everyone was there, but not Claire, Gray, and Carter. Claire had cried herself to sleep due to fatigue, Gray was lightly rocking Claire in his arms as if she was his treasure. She was…always has been…

Carter just sat next the couple in silence, he still believed that what he had done was the right thing, everything that the Goddess told him to do; he obeyed and believed that it was the right thing. He has been devoting his entire life to this church and his priesthood. He learnt that the Goddess is right about everything, but this has been the first time he had doubted her decision. The unconscious woman in Gray's lap still had tear drops clinging onto her eyelashes and there were dried streaks of water on her cheeks. _'She evidently doesn't want this marriage to happen. Something must have had occurred to the child that effected her so must now in the present.'_ Carter thought, feeling pity for the girl who had to take in all of this in one day.

"Carter?" Gray called quietly, not wanting to wake Claire up. Carter turned to Gray and asked, "Yes?"

"What's the fastest date that we can end this marriage?"

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Next week: A dive into Claire's past.

See you next week!! Don't forget to review if you like it~ :)


	8. Chapter 7

A/N: Woot!! It's finally done, chapter 7!! I'd like to thank you everyone who reviewed my last chapter and my latest chapter for Reminiscence. Give yourselves a round of applause~ -clap clap- But for those who read Reminiscence, I would just like to inform you that there would be no 'Chapter 11' for Reminiscence this week. The ideas were all great, most of you wanted Gray to know Claire's secret, but I just think it's a bit too fast, but that part will come soon, I can assure you. Hopefully I would be able to finish Chapter 11 for Reminiscence before next Sunday. Well........anywho....let's get on with the story shall we? XD A Dive In Claire's Past. **Review if you like it!!**

Last Time: Claire and Gray found out that they were married to each other.

Disclaimer: I don't own HM.

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Chapter 7

Claire's POV

As I stood there crying, weak and embarrassed in his arms, I started reminiscing…remembering my whole past, how I came to hate marriage, everything…

Things would have turned out oh so differently if my father were there to help me, guide me to where I was suppose to go, lead me to the path I should have walked down, guard me from the wrong…it's just that…he wasn't there in the first place.

My name is Claire…just Claire, I don't want a last name. I never did. I was 4 when I realized that the couple that was looking after me since birth were really my aunt and uncle. I probably should have notice that fact a lot sooner since the difference in me and my 'siblings' was so obvious…they were all brown haired. I was blonde.

It was on my 6th birthday that they decided it was alright to tell me that my mother was in a mental hospital on the outskirts of town. I would have been a lot more grateful if they had told me that my mother was in some rich hotel living the life far in the Caribbeans with her prosperous adoring husband and that one day they'll come back for me. If they did, I wouldn't have to inculcate myself very so often in my childhood, blaming myself for having to be the cause of sending my own mother to the nut house.

On my 13th birthday, once they believed I've fully grown out of the juvenile stage, they told me the real reason why my mother, Carol, was there in the first place. It turned out the man she was married and committed to had broken up with her when she was pregnant with his child, someone who was supposedly my real sibling. Carol who was deeply loyal to her marriage went and did an abortion, killing her unborn baby. But poor sweet Carol just had to believe her husband didn't she…deluded into thinking he was still loving her, she finds out that he had already moved on.

Late one night as she was walking home from her job at a dilapidated company building, she got raped by her co-workers. The big boss even wanted some of the action. After that night, people say that innocent dimwitted Carol quitted her job. Would they have believed her if she told them that she was raped in front of her building and she was fired afterwards? No. They would probably still say that she was foolish and delusional. That's what everybody says about Crazy Carol. A few months more, she discovered that she was pregnant again…with me. The Doctor told her that if she did another abortion it would be fatal to her life. She spent her pregnancy days at the hospital…with her new husband, the Doctor. She was slowly and healthily regaining her strength as the months passed by. I was delivered safe without harm. We could have been a happy family…if Carol didn't find out about that she was one of the Doctor's many wives. She went berserk, shaving her hair, destroying her own body, and even taking arsenic to commit suicide…that didn't turn out too well did it? She was sent to the loony bin the very second dawn broke across the sky. And where was I? I was still left in the hospital with only a necklace as a remembrance of Carol, unclaimed…I would have been to this very day if they didn't send out a letter to the rest of Carol's family.

On my 14th birthday, my aunt and uncle took me to my first visitation to see my real mom. She was not how I imagined her to be, she was far worse. Her skin was pale white and frail like the pallid moon. Her bald scared head had only stripes of hair left, knots were tied in every angle and they all stuck out in awkward angles. Her eyes were a piercing jet blue that twitches every second, flickering every moment something or someone passes by her. Her lips lopsided and a clear trail of saliva was making its way down the corner of her mouth to her chin without anyone stopping by to help wipe it off. Her hands were crooked, bent and looked disfigured. Her chipped nails were growing inside, hurting herself everyday. But that was just all the physical damage that she did to herself. The arsenic attempted to kill her body but because it failed, it settled for destroying her entire memory instead…except for a name…my name.

xxx

_Claire walked down the color pealed corridor, her hands had instantly wrapped around her own body, preventing herself from running out of the building or crumbling into pieces onto the cold hard floor. The whole building didn't look like a hospital, but actually a prison. The windows have been barred with stained rusty iron bars and electric wires. There was a metal gate with jagged spikes on top, preventing patients from leaving, out in the front welcoming us to this mad construction of hell. The building was white…well, only parts of it. The paint has been chipped off for years with no one bothering to repaint it again. Adolescents have been coming over for years, not to visit the patients, but to help destroy the building with their graffiti and spray painted messages. The only decent thing that was shown outside must have been the ground, they were active enough to take care of the trees and grass. The trees were all giants of brown and green, over towering the building with their branches, guarding the sick from the outside world. The grass was a soft healthy green, weeds were barely visible in sight and flowers grew proudly showing their colorful petals. _

_The inside building was far less appealing than the 'beauty' of the outer building. Entering the edifice there would be a ragged counter with an old scary, boned hag as one of the nurses. Her eyes were hidden behind dark glasses not revealing where she was staring at…but Claire could always feel that her glare was on her the whole time she was in the same room with the menacing lady. But she was not the only one that gave out an ominous feeling, all her other co-workers were scary as well. It seemed that the longer you stayed here, the more you turned crazy yourself. _(This is becoming more like a horror movie…) _The floor was sparkly clean from wax, but the walls were a different story. They were stained with blotches of unknown substances, some looked like blood. Claire shuddered at the very idea of someone being murdered here. The doors to the patient's rooms were not like your everyday hospital, they were metal and steel. 'Completely 100% safe from the crazies' Claire quoted. There were little doggie holes at the bottom of the door for the attendants to push food trays through, and peek holes on the top. There were huge soundproof windows to the side, allowing visitors to see the patient's condition. Claire never did enter the cafeteria…it was because they never had one. Workers bring their food from home, the patients receive food made by the chef of a miniature kitchen at the back of the building. _

"_We're here deary, our very little own pop star's suite. Sings like a canary every time people visit. Be sure to bring earplugs next time you come here." Cackled one of the nurses who was leading Claire to her mom. Claire nervously walked in front of the window, but had to quickly duck back into the darkness when she saw her mother standing right in front of the window, one hand on the glass, eyes staring back at Claire. Carol's eyes followed Claire's movement, lips moving, muttering something inaudible. Claire took a deep breath, her heart was beating hard in her chest, the nurse has left already, giggling as she walked away. She has unlocked the steel door before leaving, just for Claire. The frightened 15__th__ year old cautiously stepped out of the darkness, and walked in front of the glass. It was quiet at first, they stared eye to eye for a bare second before Carol flicked her attention to something else again. Claire could feel her tears flooding out as she look at the woman who's her mother. Real mother. She wanted to walk straight into the room and hold Carol's broken body, but somehow her legs forbade her to move forward. Just then, Carol opened her mouth and started…shouting, well that was what it looked like. There was only a faint sound escaping from the doggy door. Claire was about to run away when she heard a name escape from the little door. It was her name. She paced into the white room uneasily, Carol was a lot louder than Claire expected when she entered the little room. Carol _**was** _singing, just like the nurse said. __Carol turned to face the door and quickly shut up, running into a corner and quivering, her arms wrung up as if protecting herself. She thought that one of the attendants has come to hit her for singing again, that was why she had fresh bruises on her arms. Claire kneeled down and crawled closer to Carol who was still shivering in fear. _

"…_Mo…M-mom?" Claire's voice cracked as she finally whispered to the quaking woman in front of her. She slowly uncovered herself, turning her head to face Claire. Claire tried to smile, but it was hard when she's crying. _

"_Claire__claire__claire__claire__claire__claire__claire__claire__claire__claire__…………Claire?" She asked after repeating her name numerous times. Claire nodded with overflowing eyes and a wet, happy smile. _

"_I'm Claire…Mom, I'm Claire. I'm here." Claire pointed at herself, she reached into her pocket and took out a necklace that she had since birth. It was a locket, a golden locket with a turquoise embedded in the middle. It was simple and plain, yet it had the ability to overpower the beauty of every expensive accessory in the world with the love that Carol gave when she placed it around Claire's newborn neck. Carol meekly reached out to hold the necklace with one hand, pulling it back into the darkness, holding it in her hand while continuously whispering, "Claire, Claire, my precious Claire…You came back…Claire." Carol cooed at the locket, her eyes were filled with the love and affection she had for Claire and the warmth she longed for. Claire crawled closer, reaching out and taking hold of her mother, dragging the boneless body into her arms. Carol willingly allowed her daughter to hug her. They were inseparable as long as they both lived. _

_Claire had visited the hospital daily, every afterschool she'd jump onto her bicycle and dash right to her mother's room. Ignoring the intimidating receptionist desk and the other spine-chilling co-workers, the mental hospital was the best place for Claire to be, just seeing and taking care of her mom was enough for her already. Bit by bit, it seemed that Claire was helping Carol regain her memories, both good and bad ones. Everyday, she was talking more normally and every year she was closer to getting out of this hell hole she's been living for 10 or more years. When Claire turned 20, Carol left the mental hospital and started living with Claire in her apartment. She was still having some problems, every night Claire could hear her mother cry in bed about the past. Claire was almost close to tracking down the fools who broke her mother's heart and kill them herself, but she was stopped by Carol…_

"_Claire, love is the best thing in life, and you have to remember that. Don't blame them for whenever I cry, they are not at fault." But Claire didn't see it like that, she couldn't believe the fact that her mother could just forgive the two men who made her life miserable as if she never tried to commit suicide and ended up in the loony bin. Claire was furious at Carol's way of looking at things that she even started screaming at her mother. Carol took the screaming calmly, thinking that the reason why her daughter was frustrated was because Claire was just too stressed from college. So one day, when Claire came home she found men in her living room chatting casually with her mother in the center. Claire screamed and ordered all the men to get out of her apartment, when they were all gone, Claire shrieked at her mother again. _

"_Why did you invite those men to my apartment mother??"_

"_Darling, you're too stressed, love is the answer to all your problems. Maybe if you just find one man to settle down with, you would feel better." _

"_No mom, YOU would feel better. I'm not like you okay? I'm not going to be making the same mistakes you did, I'm not going to marry someone just to be dumped after wards and end up like you!! Don't you see? If you never married those jerks in the first place, you would have had a healthy life. Screw the fact that you would maybe be single forever, just being healthy and safe with your friends is already enough in my opinion."_

"_Love…I would never have been happy if I never married those men in the past. 'Marriage is the key to a happy life' was what my mother said, and I must agree with her. You would too one day."_

_Carol didn't say anything as she watched Claire's back turn at her and stomped off into her room, not forgetting to swing the door close hard. _

_The next morning Claire came out of her room, as she left for college she thought it was weird that her mother has not waken up yet since every morning she would find her mother drinking coffee calmly at the dinner counter. When she came back home, her mother was still in her bedroom. Claire couldn't get rid the twinge of curiosity so she entered her mother's room. Her mother was there all right, her back was turned towards the door, Claire quietly asked, "Mom? Are you asleep?" There was no answer. Claire walked closer and softly shook Carol's body, no response. Claire's pulse quickened as she rolled her mother over easily. Claire immediately called the ambulance and took her to the nearest hospital, but it was far too late._

…_Carol was dead…_

_The doctors informed Claire that the arsenic her mother took and the several beatings from the mental hospital she received from the workers were severe to her health. She was dying for a long time already, that day was just the time her life ended. Carol's family, Claire's aunt and uncle, came to pick the body up to perform a proper funeral ceremony. Claire didn't attend to the ceremony that day. She kept herself locked inside her mother's bedroom all day and night. _

_A week passed by and Claire still refused to leave the apartment, she didn't attend any of her classes, refused to pick up the phone when someone called, and denied all visitors. The feeling of losing the only person she ever loved was a like having a flaming brandishing steel pierce through your heart followed by a cold aching feeling washing over the wounds, forever leaving a scar._

_Time cascaded over Claire like the wind, a month passed by and Claire has yet to leave her apartment room. Trash was piling up everywhere and her food storage was running low again after her latest food order. One morning as Claire precariously walked over to the door to get her rent bill, she opens the door and trips over something. It was a stack of piled newspapers that has been delivered every morning for the last month. Claire muttered a multitude of vulgar, ribald words as she got up but due to the fact that she hasn't been walking for some time, she falls back down onto the newspapers. She was ready to rip them to shreds, uncaring that her act might cause further global warming, but one insignificant headline caught her eye. In tiny bold letters it said "__**Would you like to enjoy a peaceful and refreshing farm life? For more info, contact -----------**__"At that precise moment, she felt an epiphany, she has been moping and caging herself in her apartment for so long, moaning after her dead mother and it was time for her to start a new life. She got up and wobbled back into her room to get to the telephone. Her finger was shaking with excitement and uneasiness as she pressed the numbers._

"…_H-hello?" She croaked, gasping at the sound of her own voice, it was rasp and…old. She coughed a few times and then continued, "Yes, I would like to contact about the newspaper ad about the farm? I would like to buy it." Claire smiled broadly to herself as she looked out the window, not to see just another day pass by, but to see a new life start. _

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Next Chapter: Claire's Unexpected Visitor.

**Same thing. Review if you like it!! XD**


	9. Chapter 8

A/N:........Ahehehehe.....seems like I won't be able to update the next chapter for Reminiscence after all....I'm so sorry for those who wants to read it, but I have exams coming up and I got 3 essays to write. Blah!! So now, Im not going to promise anything yet about Reminiscence, idk if next week i'll be done with it or not, but let's hope so...I've written half so far though. So....yay? Well...let's start with the story then.

Last time: Past of Claire.

This time: Unexpected Visitor.

Disclaimer: ..........im fudging bored of this. I dont own HM. Do I have to say it every single time??!!

* * *

Chapter 8

Claire's POV

I've waken up to the smell of burnt eggs, overheated toast, and rotten fish. Ughh…there was an awful stench wafting around my house intending to kill me! I winced painfully as I tiredly open my eyes, both because of the killing scent and a head-splitting headache. I stirred around in my bed, burying my face in my pillow trying to discard the scorched eggs and toast…that was when I realized that I'm not alone in the house. I urgently flipped my body to face the side of the kitchen a little too fast and unaware that I was already at the edge of my bed, I fell down.

"Ooof!......ughhh." I moaned. This must be Monday since it sucks since morning. I languidly raised my torso, followed by my heavy skull. The unsightly setting of my kitchen, smudged and dirty was displeasing. There was black smoke ascending up to my ceiling to gather into a humungous ball of smoke, the mixer was used and was not cleaned, strips of tomato skin were smothered all over the kitchen counter and mixer. I cringed at the scenery, yep, today MUST be Monday.

"Claire, you're going to lie there all day or are you gonna come join me for breakfast?" I immediately turned to the kitchen table to find Gray sitting there casually, newspaper in one hand and tomato juice in the other. His hat was lying on the table, revealing his spikey orange hair that he keeps under his tacky UMA cap. I had the sudden urge to reach out and play with his hair but had to refrain myself, remembering that Gray's here for Goddess-knows-why reason, destroyed my ex-clean kitchen for over-cooked breakfast, and is reading a newspaper article casually as if this was his house! I got up and wobbled over to the table, snatching the newspaper out of his hands and crumbling it.

"Hey! Goddess Claire, what the hell?"

"Why are you here? After yesterday, I think it's clear that I wouldn't want to see you for some time." Just for those who forgot, Gray and I just got 'married' at New Year's Eve when we were drunk, who would want to see his face after that? I crossed my arms, waiting patiently for an answer, it better be good if he's taking his time sipping more juice before answering me. He pointed towards the door…where lay a suitcase with a name tag 'Gray' tied to it. I shot him a puzzled, dumbfounded look, what is going on here?? He sighed once, putting down the mug he answered, "Doug kicked me out of the inn."

"…Wait…What? My head's still fuzzy from dosing a little too much carbon dioxide that was caused from that big black smoke over there, mind repeating that line for me?"

"-sigh- Doug. Kicked. Me. Out. Of. The. Inn."

It took me about 3 heartbeats before I fully processed what the red-headed boy in front of me just said. Kicked him out of the inn? Why? Oh…I think know why…I walked over and gave him a hug.

"I told you…you shouldn't pick at your food when Doug's in front of you. You know how he reacts." I comforted him, giving him pats on the back. Well why else would he be kicked out?

"Claire…that's not the reason why I'm here…"

"Did you have one of your hissy fits again?"

"No…you seriously wanna know why I got kicked out?"

"Hell yeah." Why wouldn't I wanna know? That way if the reason isn't so pitiful or anything I can kick him out right away. I'm an evil friend, I know.

"Well…how to start. Ann told Doug about what happened the other night, you know…the drunken wedding night. Doug started blabbering about how husband and wife should stay under the same roof and all. After tucking you in bed when you fell asleep at church I left to go get some sleep. Doug was at the back kitchen when I arrived at the inn so nothing happened, I just went upstairs to find Cliff sleeping, hugging a wine bottle…guess Duke made him test wine again. I changed and went directly to sleep at the moment my head touches the pillow. 10 minutes or so after I already fallen asleep, Doug storms in and starts complaining about how I'm the worst husband in the world, leaving my wife…you…at home all alone while I sleep peacefully here. He started throwing all my clothes and belongings into my suitcase, threw the suitcase down the rail when he's done. He didn't forget to throw me out of the room too, thank Goddess he didn't throw me over the rail with my bag. And he bellowed for me to leave his inn and that I am officially never to return to my room ever again, but to stay here. Naturally I didn't tell gramps anything about the marriage thing and he didn't even have a second thought about throwing me out of his shop. So here I am, the last place I could be." Gray took a deep breath after explaining all the details of his 'great overnight adventure'. I still wonder though, why come here? He could just go visit Carter, he'll gladly take him in.

"………" While processing all the information about Gray's adventure, a bright idea popped into my head…I could feel the light bulb spark on top of my head.

--

"Claire!! LET ME IN!!" Gray yelled from the outside the second I kicked him and his suitcase out of my house. I locked the doors (yes, I installed locks to my door) and dragged a chair to barricade the door. No way am I letting him stay here, people will start asking why Gray sleeps here and they will know! Oh Goddess, if Manna knows…-gulp- I don't want to imagine it…I shook the image out of my head and yelled back, "Go away Gray!! Go stay with Carter!!"

"Him?? He's FREAKY!! I'd rather stay with your cows than stay at the church!! Who knows what he'll do to me!!" His panicked voice seeps through my wooden door quietly, his fist still banging on my door. Lord, help me, what if the door breaks-

-BAM-

I let out a blood-curling scream when suddenly without notice the barricaded door breaks down with Gray lying down on the door from the outside. My jaws dropped as I stared at my beaten downed door with a blacksmith coughing on top. He raised his head to look at me and smiled meekly, giving me a weak chuckle.

"Hehe…guess I knocked too hard…huh?"

"…"

Guess this is the start of our beautiful marriage life…

**DAY 1 (Night time)**

"I told you, you are not sleeping on the bed!" I screamed at him. How dare he?? He broke my door, rejected the idea of staying at the Church, won't stay with his grandpa (Well, actually, Saibara kicked _him_ out.), and now he's saying he's sleeping on the bed!! I could just strangle him if he wasn't so tall!! ...Did I forget to mention how short I am? Yeah, I'm only 162cm while he's like 179cm tall. He could easily tip toe and avoid my reach.

"_Honey._ We're married, of course I'm sleeping on the bed with you. I just came back from work, and I'm not sleeping on the hard floor with Catfish." He retorted, oh yeah sure, just came back from work huh? He always goes to see Mary after work, there's no way that he came here straight from the blacksmith shop…not like _I_ care much about his whereabouts. Hmph! "And don't worry, it's not like I want to touch you. There's nothing to touch anyways."

"…" Was he calling me boob-less?? Oh he's so going down.

--

"I'm kidding!! Let me in Claire! C'mon, it's cold out here!! I'm sorry okay??"

I looked at the _fixed _door (Yup, I just fixed it. All by myself…Gotz helped a little bit.), crossed my arms and waltzed back to my glorious king-sized bed. Ahhhh…how comfortable it is, to not have to share my space with anyone except myself. I closed the lights, took out two pieces of cotton balls, stuffed them into my ear, changed to my pajamas and slept peacefully throughout the entire night. Complete silence took over the house, even Gray stopped banging on my door, hallelujah.

--

_Cock-ka-doodle-doo_

I slowly stirred in bed, stretching my arms, legs, rubbing my eyes, scratching my stomach and whatnot before jumping out of bed. What a wonderful night last night was, I never had a better night like last night. I danced towards my cabinet and took out my pink overalls, oh how I wish I had a pink tutu instead right now. Ah well. I took out a comb and started brushing slowly in front of my mirror, singing along the whole time.

"_I'm a Barbie girl in the Barbie world. Life in plastic, it's fantastic. You can brush my hair, undress me everywhere~_ I LOVE THIS SONG!!"

And then it happened…one thing led to another, I started acting as if the comb was my microphone and started doing what average teenage girls do…imitate a singer. I was jumping and crawling everywhere in my house with half my hair straight and half still messy. If anyone saw me now, they would have thought I was crazy. Even Catfish looks at me as if I was mad.

"_I'm a slave, for you. I cannot hold it_-"

-Creak-

I instantly stopped singing and twirled around to look at the door, who dares listen to me sing?

"Oh no, don't mind me. You go right ahead doing whatever you were doing just now. I'll wait here."

I gaped at the intruder for a heartbeat before regaining my usual posture again, I cocked my head to the side and grinned. "Well look what the wind blew in, hey there handsome." Who wouldn't recognize that smug smirking face of his? Not to mention his _purple _bandana and pants, his brown chocolate jacket with all buttons unbuttoned, sleeves folded up to an reasonable amount, clean tank top hidden behind the brown shades, and cool looking boots!! He winked at me once, leaning against my door frame and crossed his arms.

"Hey yourself beautiful." He strode inside and gathered me into his arms.

"Aw. I miss you too Kai, but I don't think a bear hug is needed for occasions like these since I'll be heading to the clinic with a broken arm next if you don't stop." I giggled and patted his back once. He chuckled and crushed me even harder once before letting me go from his bone chompers, aka, his arms. I looked over at his muscles and pinched them, hard, causing him to flinched for a second. "Gee, have you been working out again? They're even bigger than the last time I saw you…talking about time, why are you here so early this year…this is what…early Spring?? You come at Summer!" Oh fudge…and I didn't even fix my marriage problem yet!! What if he finds out??

"Is it illegal if I want to come here early to see my girlfriend?" He smiled sweetly before bending down to kiss my cheek. I blushed furiously and had to turn away instantly, good Goddess, I feel like Cliff! And this is another reason why I don't want to get married, I have a boyfriend already!!

xxx

_The hot Summer sun was blazing profusely and blatantly in the blue cloudless sky. Claire who has been here for just one season was toiling indignantly on her fields trying to plow the ground as fast as she can so that she may run back to her house to get some shade. She was in need of money badly and her only way other from picking grass in the woods is to start growing cash crops. With two heavy bags of corn and tomato seeds each at her side, a giant hoe in her hands, she was nowhere near to finishing her job for the day. _

"_Damn you 'Life on the Farm' people!' Easy plowing my ass! 'Just get a hoe and start plowing! It's easy, give it a try~' Fuck you, why don't __**YOU**__ do it for me if it's so easy??" Claire continued swearing and grumbling inconsistently at the relatives on one of her pathetically little amount of TV shows. "Why can't Gray come help me?? Oh yes, that's right, Saibara had to keep him due to the lack of work from his grandson." The little blond farmer endlessly babbled about different issues to herself, unaware that a visitor has been standing and watching her for some time now._

"_Want help?" Kai shouted, still grinning as usual. Claire didn't even have to turn around to identify the owner of that masculine voice. _

"_Hey Kai." She gave a small wave and went straight back to her 'work'. Kai strode to where Claire was and snatched the hoe away from her hands before starting to plow the field easily for her. "Hey!!! Excuse me but I can perfectly handle this type of shit without any of your fucking help!" _

"_Oh sure, if you call hours of no progress work, then you ARE perfectly capable to do this aren't you." Kai refused to give her back her hoe and carried on. "And tone down the swearing will ya? With your face, you and swearing just don't blend." _

"_I don't need a rat-ass like you to tell me what to do. Especially a guy I don't even really know." She threw him a dirty glance and swiped the hoe back. Kai grinned in a provocative manner, "What are you talking about…what do you call those hours of sitting on the beach after 4pm talking about nothing everyday huh?, he patted her back and sat on the ground, watching her do her work. Claire huffed, not wanting to admit that he was right…for once. _

_It started since the first day of Summer when Claire walked north from the farm and met him talking to Popuri and May. It started out as just mere greetings and nods. One day, Claire finished her work early and decided to go relax at the beach, where she found Kai at his sea lodge, beckoning for her to come over. After a few minutes of awkward conversation, it slowly progressed into a more interesting talk where they learned that they have a lot on common with each other. Other from Gray, she could casually say that Kai's also like her best friend._

_He sat there for a whole 30 minutes without uttering a word while Claire futilely tried to plow the field. She finally gave up, throwing the hoe away from her, swayed next to Kai and plopped down next to him. She has been trying to do farm work since 8am (it's 11:30 now) nonstop, causing her to fall asleep right away when her head touched the hard grassy ground. Kai picked up the hoe and continued her work, even if he's more of a chef and sea traveler, he was still more capable of handling farm work more than a fragile city girl. _

_Claire slept for a long time, it was almost 7pm when she later woke up. Kai was still sitting next to her, but a part of her field has been plowed already. She turned to Kai, who smiled back. _

"_I'm not going to say thank you or anything, since I didn't ask you for your help." _

_Kai just shrugged, "Your welcome"_

"_Why are you here in the first place anyways? I don't think it was to help me do my work." _

"_You're right. I came here with different intentions, but first-" He got up and dusted off his pants, "-let's get dinner. My treat." He reached down to pull Claire, who was pouting due to curiosity, up on her feet. _

"_Just tell me your intentions and get over with it why don't you?" _

_Kai shook his head, "Nope, I need you to be very curious with what I have to say, c'mon, let's get some food already. I don't know about you, but I'm starving." Kai rubbed his stomach dramatically to show that his hunger, he was just trying to get the lady in front of him to feel pity, little did he know that his invitation had a great effect on Claire._

_-groannnnnnnnnnnnnn- _

"…"

"…"

"…"

"_Damn girl! Was that your stomach just now or a wild dog?"_

"…_Okey dokey, dinner it is. Let's go beach boy."_

…

_Kai ended up taking Claire to the beach to his own restaurant after badly beating Rick up at the inn. Kai cooked the both of them spaghetti and meat-balls with a side dish of baked corn. Freshly squeezed pineapple juice in florid champagne glasses and Rose scented perfume candles were lit dimly on the dinner table. _

"_I bet you do this type of stuff often with Popuri huh?" Claire raised her eyebrow and tilted her head sideways into her small palms. _

"_Used to. She dumped me when I came back last year. Obviously, Rick told her something…I don't know what…but enough about that. Dig in. I made this especially for you today."_

"_And if I finish, you'll tell me your intentions right?" _

"_Like I promised."_

_Claire smiled and did a small prayer before eating. They had a pleasant talk like every time, making jokes about Rick, the usual stuff. It was past midnight when they noticed the time. _

"_Okayyy…I'm here way longer than I needed to be. Now tell me your inten-" She was suddenly cut off by Kai's unexpected kiss attack. He silenced her lips with his, his lips still tasted a hint of tomato sauce and oregano while hers tasted like pineapples. She was far too bewildered by the sudden attack of personal space, but ending up kissing him back, caught up by the frenzy moment. She finally found the will to push him away, breathing hard after what happened just now._

"_What was-"_

"_Claire, I like you. And tomorrow I'm leaving town for awhile, do you like me back?"_

"_Uhh…can I make a comment first?" Kai nodded, his eyes still hungry for Claire's answer. "Your sense of priority sucks badly. I mean, aren't you suppose to ask first, kiss later?" Claire giggled. _

"_So…you're not-" Kai who didn't finished his sentence got interrupted by Claire's lips. Kai instantly kissed back, smiling. Who would have known that since the first time he saw Claire sitting at the beach, he felt as if she was the one. "So is this a yes?" Kai jokingly asked the second their lips parted._

"_What do you think?" Claire hugged him, who would have known that since the first day she saw him at the beach, she instantly fell for him. "But I got rules though."_

"_Shoot."_

"_I don't want people to know about us…not yet. And you cannot question me why, I have my reasons."_

"_Your wish is my command."_

xxx

I was softly smiling to myself thinking about the past. Up till now no one had really knew about us, well…except for Popuri who asked to get back with Kai but got rejected. It was a risky call, but I was able to keep her quiet…till now. Who would have known that an axe and hammer could come in handy in these situations? And Kai haven't even broken his promise, never did he ask or show the slightest bit of curiosity about asking me. I am completely in love with-

"Plus, I wanted to come here to invite you to go to the Goddess Festival too, who else would invite you if I wasn't here?"

…Okay, that statement was uncalled for!

"Excuse me, but _I_ am pretty capable of getting myself a date without _you_ to come all the way here just to invite me!!" I pushed him away and marched back to the mirror to continue combing my hair…which has turned into a horrible mess due to the fact I was prancing for a while a few minutes ago. He walked right up behind me and nodded once before saying, "Uh-huh, yeah sure. I know that you're capable and everything but you do know right that _they're _not available? Ann's got Cliff in her grasp, Elli probably got Doc, Karen's got Rick…"

"There's Gray." I suggested out of nowhere, forgetting the situation we both are in and that I was suppose to hate him.

"He likes Mary, he's probably going to ask her so don't bother. Besides…you got me here, don't talk about other guys like that." He bended down and hugged me again, but this time it was from behind. I chuckled once, "Jealous are we?" I smirked, but was caught off guard when he replied simply, "Why yes, yes I am."

"…" Who cannot love a guy like this? I was beaming like crazy, not to mention blushing again. I turned around to face Kai and hugged him…tight. He hugged me back, burying his face in my hair.

"What did I ever do to get such a sweet girlfriend like you?"

"Oh, you just stand around and look pretty." I giggled, kissing his cheek gently. "Maybe occasionally toss your brown locks around." I smiled and started messing with his hair.

"Or just kiss you unexpectedly out of nowhere after dinner."

"Or that-" And then Kai swooped down to interrupt my conversation with his lips. My head was thrown back as a sigh escaped through my lips as Kai made his way down my neck. Once he reached my collarbone, I started giggling and he knew that he had found my sensitive ticklish spot as he started to nibble on it. My legs gave way and fits of laughter broke out as he strengthened his hold around my waist to support my weight since I was having a hard time standing.

"You're cute when you laugh." Kai chuckled, his free hand caressing my cheek softly, as he observed my blushing face.

"Shut up and kiss me dammit! Kiss me now!" I demanded jokingly and tugged his collar.

"Yes m'aam." He obeyed and right away, his lips and mine were reunited.

"Ahem. Am I interrupting anything?" A mysterious voice echoed from the doorway, giving both of us a shock.

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See you next week!!! XD Dont forget to review!!

A/N #2 : Just to be clear, this story is STILL going to be Claire x Gray, but just with some Kai scenes.


	10. Chapter 9

Disclaimer: I dont own HM

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Chapter 9

"Can I get you anything? Water? Cookies perhaps?" I asked, rummaging in my fridge for something that I don't even have. Stupid stupid me!! Why ask him when I don't even have cookies?

"No, I'm perfectly fine. Thank-"

"See babe? He's fine, now where were we?" Kai asked, pulling me closer to him. I immediately pushed him away and turned to give my house guest a small embarrassed laugh.

His face was scarlet red with embarrassment after watching Kai's little sexy joke stunt. He took off his red top hat and fanned himself, taking out a handkerchief out to rub his face. He coughed into his white handkerchief, blowing his chocolate milk-colored moustache at every cough.

"Uh-um…I see you two were bu-busy. I just came over to ask who you were going to ask to be your date to the Goddess Festival…"

"That's me!" Kai shouted exaggeratedly, raising his hand and smiling a goofy boyish grin. I sighed and nodded my head towards him. The Mayor just quickly nodded and strode out as fast as his little turkey legs could carry him. As soon as he was gone, I punched Kai in the ribs hard. He cried out loud and kneeled on the ground, holding his ribs. Serves him right.

"Great, thanks Kai. Now I bet the whole town will know about us by tomorrow." I stormed outside to the barn. Kai followed, still holding his ribs. I pulled out the milker and strode over to my cow, 'Beef Steak'.

"I don't know why you're so pissed off." He started.

"…" I ignored him and continued milking.

"I mean, I was just joking around, he should know that." He continued.

"…"I took out my brush and petted 'Beef Steak'.

"Hey…"

"…" _Lalalala~ _I'm not hearing anything.

"Can you stop petting 'Beef Steak' and listen to me??"

I turned to him, hands on my hips and putting my mean face on……which didn't work out so well since he started laughing.

"I-I'm sorry, Claire….you mind stop making your funny face? Seriously, you always *laugh* do that when we fight. *laugh, cry*" Kai chortled, constantly moaning in pain while laughing on the ground. Well, at least the joke's on him, the floor was littered with cow dung…

--

At the Library

Gray's POV

"Thanks again Mary for letting me stay here last night, I really didn't have any where else to go." I turned back to wave at Mary and I walked out of the library to go to work. After getting kicked out by Claire, I was wandering in the streets for a place to sleep. Of course Doug and gramps would kick me out, and it wasn't like I had many friends here in the first place. I was about to walk back to the farm to beg Claire when Mary walked outside from her house to walk.

xxx

_It was a chilly Spring night, Winter has already took it's leave but left a frosty gift behind as a memento of it's departure. Snow has melted away along with the icy weather, but the icicles were still in the progress of melting. The brick road was unsafe at night, not like in the big cities, but because the ice has been embedded in the cracks of the bricks and were producing water every second. Everyone in the small village was snuck in their warm beds, dreaming of the arrival of the Spring's warmth. Everyone, except for the black murky shadow that has been wandering on the streets. Gray was dragging his tired legs in town, he was exhausted from work and he didn't even have time to rest. _

'_Why couldn't I just sleep on the floor? Shouldn't have had made a big deal out of where I sleep…it's her house, not mine….' The lonesome blacksmith continued to whisper to the streets, his hands stuffed in his pockets for a fragment of heat. Just when he was about to decide whether he should go back to his wife to apologize, when a certain librarian walked out of her house. She was speechless at first, unable to say anything when she finds a black mysterious figure standing in front of the library, but when light shone on his face and it was certain that it was Gray, she gave out a relieved sigh and walked over to him, smiling. _

'_Gray, it's great to see you, although it's under the weird circumstances, I haven't seen you for some time.' Mary's soft voice came out as a puff of white wisp of fog at every single word. Mary's face was half hidden in the darkness of the streets while the other half was shone brightly from the lights in her house. Her hair was let down, something that Gray has never seen before. Her glasses were nowhere to be seen on her pale face, her brown chocolate eyes were the only color on her face now without her black glasses. Gray couldn't help but smile softly and blush at Mary's pure beauty, his heart was pounding hard in his chest as if it was going to explode in a second. _

'_Ye-yeah…I was busy…s-so Mary, what are you doing here?' Gray nervously asked, his face half hidden by his cap. Mary's response was a giggle, 'I live here Gray, I should be asking you instead, what are you doing here?' _

_Gray hesitated for a moment before answering shortly, 'I have nowhere to sleep…I was kicked out of the inn…'_

_Mary was quiet, she looked left and right, seeing if there was anyone near the two of them. After making sure that it was just the two of them, she took signaled Gray to follow her as she opened the library and walked inside. _

'_You can sleep here first if you want Gray, I know it's rather sudden, but this is all I can do.' Gray was still flabbergasted that Mary would help him this much, he was speechless. A second or two passed before color started glowing on both their cheeks. _

'_Thank you.' Was all he could say at the moment before he gently kissed Mary on her forehead. A small simple kiss of appreciation. _

xxx

"It was no problem at all Gray, you're welcome to come stay any time when you need a place to sleep. It's a good thing that my parents aren't the one to open the place up." Mary smiled, "Guess I'll see you later Gray, come by later if you can, I have some new books for you." And with that, she started to walk back into the library but was stopped…by me when I reached out to grab her wrist.

"Wait, urr….Mary…I have something for you." I said, digging into my pockets to pull out a bracelet I made for her from the orichalc I got from Claire. It was a small simple aquamarine blue bracelet with a small black book as an ornament.

"Oh! Thank you Gray, it's gorgeous." She dangled the small piece of jewelry in her hands, I just smiled and turned back to go to work, waving to her as I walked.

--

Claire's POV

"I told you already that I didn't want you to be telling people about us!!" I shouted at Kai as I stormed towards the house. Kai followed right at the back, hot on my heels, then progressed to my right side. "How many more times do I have to say it Kai? Damn it!" I pushed him away before marching into the house and locking it. There was a quiet knock at the door as I leaned against it.

"Claire?" His soft masculine voice seeped through the wooden door, I stayed quiet. "I'm sorry, I just…I just couldn't help myself. Dammit Claire, I haven't seen you for 2 seasons…I missed you, and I'll have to go tomorrow at dawn already, I'll be back on the 8th and then leave again…I don't want things to end like this before I go. I won't do it again, well not in front of others of course, wouldn't want them to become blind from our love now would we?" He chuckled softly, I couldn't help but giggle. "Claire, could you let me in? I'll do anything just for you to forgive me….please?" I pondered for awhile…

…before smiling with glee. I opened the door and asked sweetly, "Anything?"

--

"You know Claire…I wouldn't mind doing this with you anytime-"

"Good."

"-minus the bikini I'm wearing right now and the thickly smeared pink sun lotion on my chest that looks like a smiley face of course. Does this sort of thing turn you on?"

"Yes Kai, having my boyfriend look like a transvestite turns me on greatly. No, of course not!! I just have the pleasure of embarrassing you and harming your manhood." I answered, satisfied. I was lying almost naked on the beach with an almost naked Kai next to me as well.

_Ding~ _(Alarm)

"C'mon girlfriend, it's time to flip." And I flipped to lie on my belly, letting the glorious sunlight radiate on my pale back. If I don't get a perfect tan like Kai today, I'm going to be so pissed. Kai moaned as he flipped unwillingly.

"Claire, I'm already tan. If I get anymore sunlight I'm going to be overcooked for sure. I'll go sit in there." He pointed towards his sea lodge. The morning lonely sea lodge next to the thing Zack calls a house. "Can't you hear my baby calling for me?" He looked at the lodge with longing eyes since he gets to see it only for 30 days every 3 seasons.

"No! You said you'll do anything for me to forgive you, and tanning as my friend is one of them!!" I scolded him, dragging him to lie down next to me. "And plus…I'm your baby." I pouted, turning to face the other way to show him that I'm jealous. He laughed and turned me to face him and said, "Of course you are."

For the rest of the day we slept next to each other, talking like how girlfriends always do…with an exception of a little kissing. -giggle- The weird thing is, he didn't even turn the slightest shade darker…freak.

--

At the same time

_Creak_

The old wooden door gave out a small whisper as it opened, the shy blacksmith walked inside, pleased when he entered the cold room. He has been working next to furnaces for hours, it was nice to change the scenery and temperature after awhile. Mary who was sitting behind her desk looked up from the thick literature she was reading and smiled.

"Hello. I didn't think you would come, but I'm glad you did…not many come here." The librarian continued to smile as she got up and walked over to him. He grinned back, blushing in pink as he shoves his hands in his pockets.

"Huh…that's kind of hard to believe…" He muttered quietly, intending to let only himself hear it.

"How so?" Gray looked up, shocked that she heard him. Well, now that he thinks about it, it wouldn't be strange if she didn't hear him since she was so darn close to him. He moved back a couple of steps, not too much to make her feel bad, but enough to stay away from her personal space.

"W-well, there are so many good and interesting books here. It's strange how people don't come in here to read…" Gray walked over to a bookshelf and pulled out a random book, "_Twilight by Stephenie Meyer_…who wouldn't want to read this?" He pushed it back into the shelves and bended down, "Or… '_How to tend your gardens'_, this could be useful material."

"Would you want to read '_Twilight_' and '_How to tend your gardens'_ Gray?" Mary retorted, sauntering over to where Gray was standing. Gray thought it over for a few seconds before answering, "No. But I know who would maybe enjoy reading these."

"Who?"

"Claire. She probably needs the garden book, have you seen her farm? Brr…last year it looked like a junk yard. And this 'Twilight' book should probably be a chic fic, so she'll probably read it……" His voice softened bit by bit as he noticed that he was still talking about Claire. After the way she treated him, he should be angry with her.

"I see…well why don't you invite her over here next time? I haven't really talked to her, the last time should probably be……let me think……the Music Festival on the first year she arrived, when she asked me to teach her how to blow the Orcana. She was marvelous after a little practice." Mary clapped her hands once, smiling at the memory, who would have thought a 20 minute practice would be enough? She had a pleasant time chatting with the blond clueless farmer, although it was maybe the last time they had a real conversation.

"And she passed?? Unbelievable…you must be a very good teacher, Mary." Gray praised the librarian, who just blushed slightly at the comment.

"Thank you Gray." She smiled, Gray sighed happily as his eyes lingered on Mary's face. Her big round eyes twinkled brightly as the light shone on them, her black silky hair could be compared as seaweed that swayed in rhythm in the bottom of the cerulean sea, her white smooth skin had a touch of pink on her cheeks, and her smile…was just…genuine. Although she smiles very often to him, there was something that makes her different from everyone else. _'So was Claire's smile…it was beautiful…' _Gray thought to himself, generating a shock since he still was thinking about the farmer when Mary was right in front of him, he shook his head continuously to discard the thought.

"Hey, you need me to help you organize anything?" Gray changed the topic immediately, Mary nodded and led him upstairs.

And so, the blacksmith and the librarian spent the rest of the day together in the library, where they lived happily ever and after……not really, but Gray did stay there for the night again.

--

As night time arrives, the sinister darkness devoured the whole town, hiding the brightness of the sun behind the black clouds. The farm was covered in night, screaming the message to one farmer that she should go to sleep. She didn't. The blonde petite farmer lay silently awake in bed with her beau next to her already sound asleep. She was cuddling in her wool blankets for warmth as the cold early Spring wind blew through her windows. Her thoughts lingered on the idea of telling her boyfriend about her marriage to Gray, she loathed the thought about lying to Kai, but results could be ugly if he finds out. She did love him for his jealousy. Choosing to tell the truth, she rolled next to Kai to face him.

"Kai…" Claire whispered softly to the man who was asleep beside of her in the dark. There was a quiet response, "Hmmm?"

"Do you love me?" She crawled closer to his warm tan body, heat radiated from his bare chest, Claire snuggled closer. He moaned, "…You're asking me this now?? It's midnight, go to sleep Claire…" He turned to face the wall, his back facing Claire. She pouted and wriggled closer to him, shaking him.

"No…answer me Kai. Please?" She begged, shaking him harder and harder to wake him up from his beloved slumber. He groaned noisily, turning back to face Claire with irritation written all over his face. He sighed, "You're not going to stop bugging me till you get an answer will you…" Claire shook her head, smiling innocently. Kai chuckled and reached out to hug her. "I love you-" He kissed her forehead, "I will always love you-" He kissed her cheek, "-and you can't stop me from loving you. Okay?" He kissed her lips, lingering for awhile. Claire responded by kissing back, her cheeks flustered in pink and her smile was unable to be erased from her face. He smiled back and stroked her hair, feeling very content. If he were to be able to parade Claire around in the city, men would most likely be jealous of him. Claire's a very beautiful girl, she's gorgeous, humorous, and she's got a fine body. Any man alive would have wanted her.

"Hey…what would you do if I were to be married? To someone else? Not you…" Claire meekly asked, hiding her head beneath the blankets, she could feel Kai's body go rigid and his face turning red with anger.

"Who is he?? Are you married? No!! You can't be!! You're going to marry me, and…and…and we're going to have beautiful babies and a big house in the Caribbeans with a white picket fence, or…or…we'll live here and you can continue with your farm work while I help look after the kids!! Our first kid will be a girl with a name starting with C and a middle name starting with K. And…and-" Kai was hyperventilating, babbling on and on about the plans he had for them both in the future, his eyes were wide with panic as the thought of losing Claire ran through his head. Claire shushed him, placing her finger on his lips. She smiled, hiding the pain behind her happy mask.

"I'm not going anywhere, I love you…you know that. I'll never leave you…" She whispered, hugging Kai and hiding her face beneath the blankets to cover her teary eyes. She just couldn't tell him…not yet, she was too scared to let him go. As the night drones on, Claire silently cried to sleep as Kai lovingly strokes her hair all till dawn.

* * *

A/N: Review please!! Just a reminder, this is still going to be Claire x Gray. I'll try to make the Gray scenes more cuter than this. :D If you have any ideas you want as a Gray x Claire scene, feel free to share, if it's good, i'll try to put it in the story. :)

Next Time: Claire gets jealous.


	11. Chapter 10

A/N: Sorry for the slow update, I had a ton of school work and projects to do on the weekend so I forgot to update...and the amount of reviews I got for the last chapter was a little discouraging, sorry if I'm being blunt, but is my writing getting worst or something? If it is, please tell me so I can improve and change my mistakes.

Disclaimer: I am never EVER owning Harvest Moon!!! DX

Claire's Swear Words Dictionary

Fuck = Fudge

Hell = Cookie / Heck

* * *

Chapter 10

_Cock-ka-doodle-doo~_

I groaned, annoyed at the fudging bird that can't keep it's mouth shut in the morning……maybe fried chicken for breakfast is a good idea…as the thought pondered through my head, I turned to my side to find an empty hallow space next to me. -sigh- Guess Kai went already……he should have left a note of something…oh wait, he did! I picked up the crumpled note on the pillow and opened it.

_Hey Claire! _

_Guess you're awake now huh? Let me guess, the chickens from your coop couldn't keep their mouths shut and made you wake up. And now you're probably thinking about having chicken for breakfast. Not a good idea, babe. Remember, you bought those chickens for a reason so don't go wasting your money for bad intentions. _

_Also, I made you breakfast, but they're probably all cold and mushy since I made them at dawn. So…….happy dining!! And I'll see you on the 8__th__ of Spring, 5 days from now, so when I get there, which should be before the festival starts, you better get yourself all primped and pretty for me. _

_Love You. With all of my heart, _

_Kai_

_P.s. __You don't have to worry about Thomas anymore 'kay? We had a little talk before I left. Did you know that knives could do wonders when wanting to keep people quiet? Very effective._

"…" My Goddess, he threatened the mayor, what would the mayor think of me now? I folded the paper, neatly, and put it in my bed stand drawer before walking over to my dining table. Pineapple juice, baked corn, and pancakes……_yummm._ I started to dig in, devouring the sweet, soggy taste of pancakes, the stale buttery crisp corns, and the bland, insipid pineapple juice made by my pineapples from last summer. As I started to nimble on the corn, a flashback flew through me.

xxx

_Last year, on a hot summer day, Claire had invited Gray over for lunch at her place. She simply told him what was on the menu and he went dashing out of the his grandfather's store to sit himself down on of Claire's dinner chairs. As the meal arrived, Gray quickly thanked her for lunch and dig in on the first thing he saw. Baked corn._

"_I love bake corn!!" Gray chirped. Claire was sitting across from him, watching with disgust as he hungrily devoured the golden roasted vegetable in his hands. _

"_And I love manners…You know Gray…the corn isn't going anywhere, so eat slowly why don't you?" Claire disturbed his corn eating rampage, eyeing him down. The blacksmith merely shook his head and replied, "Baked corn tastes a lot better when it's eaten fast. It's tradition." He gave her a goofy-looking, boyish smile and continued to gobble the vegetable up._

"_If I knew that corn would make you act like an inhuman rabid canine, I wouldn't have made it in the first place."_

"_And then you wouldn't have had any company over now would you?" _

"…_Touché." Claire smiled and raised her glass to him before drinking her pineapple juice._

xxx

I felt as if the corn in my mouth suddenly tasted rancid, how can I be thinking about that jerk after what he did?? I threw the corn into the trash bin carelessly and started to clean up. Piff, I'll show him, I'm perfectly capable of staying by myself without his company for a few days. Maybe even forever! By next hour, I'll probably even forget his existence.

--

30 minutes passed.

"I MISS GRAYYYYYYY!!!!" I bawled, throwing my watering can away from me, balled up my fists and start hitting the ground in frustration. I was screaming tiny little shrieks, angry with my stupid emotions and angry that I missed my friend badly. (No way am I calling him 'husband') I could feel my face distorting with pain from both the Gray-crave feeling and the sharp pieces of pebbles that were stuck in my hands, causing a sharp tang of hurt when I moved them. Blood was seeping through the cuts as I carelessly removed the rocks. This Gray-crave is _badddd _for my health…both emotional and physical.

"I miss you Gray…" I murmured, looking at the entrance of the farm where Gray used to stand and smile at me when I'm working. I sighed remotely; guess this time is my entire fault…time for me to go apologize to him.

…Problem. Where the cookie is he??

--

"Gray? He left, ran out of right when the ol' clock rang out that its 1o'clock. Is there anything you need? I haven't seen you here for sometime, since the party at the inn. How you been Claire?"

If you were guessing that I'm in Saibara's shop, then you are exactly correct. My first stop, Saibara's. The familiar scent of burnt ore, melting metal, steaming furnace, and man sweat filled my nostrils, no wonder I don't come here often. Flaring steam was filling up the room, getting hotter and hotter every second I stood there, I need to get out of here, I hate the heat…I feel like my head's getting a little fuzzy.

"I've been okay, thanks for asking Saibara. Any idea where he went in a hurry?" I asked, fanning myself in swift movements, the faster he answers the faster I could get the heck out of here.

"Probably the library, since you haven't been visiting him, he's been spending a lot of time with Basil's kid, Mary." At the mention of Mary's name, there was suddenly a twinge of hurt in my chest. Why Mary? Why not see me??

"Thanks again, I'll see you next time." And with that I ran out of the place without even waiting for a 'good bye'. As I walked down the slippery wet road, my bloody cuts were beginning to dry up, leaving only desiccated trails of red on my palms. Screw them, there's not way am I ever going back to see the doctor, not after what he did last time I got cuts. As I gradually approached the front door of the library, my feet stopped moving and I was seeded to the ground. My arms were glued to my sides and I wasn't able to move forward. Thoughts and 'what if's poured into my head as I stared at the wooden door. _What if he hates me now? What if he doesn't want to see me again? What if he's never going to talk to me again? I hurt him…I threw him out of my house into the cold mercilessly without even thinking it over. _

As the thoughts swirled around my head, manipulating me to walk away and leave him alone with Mary, another part of me was forcing me to go in and talk with Gray. Both my good, guilty conscience and my bad, jealous conscience were fighting in my head, starting their own war. It felt as if my head would split into two any minute now if they continue dueling. I closed my eyes and shook my head like a mad dog with fleas, trying to discard my separate opposite thoughts. And then…when it stopped. Everything stopped, my head was as clear as a bell again, and when I opened my eyes, I knew that……

………my bad conscience won the fight.

BAM!

I slammed the door open and barged inside, scanning the room, there was no one there. I was about to walk out when I heard a giggle above my head. I have forgotten that the library had two floors, that's what you get when you don't visit a location for years. I stormed upstairs and the first thing I saw was Gray on top of Mary, both laughing their heads off with cheerful faces. Anyone who saw this would have ran downstairs and bolted out the door at the first glance of their awkward posture, but _noooo, _I stayed right there. I would have puked from what I have thought they were doing, until I noticed Gray's hands tickling Mary's side causing her to laugh hysterically.

He's so lame…

I walked up to him and took hold of his collar, pulling him down the stairs with me. I don't care if he's hurt, I'm getting him out of here!!

_Thump thump thump_

"Ow!! Claire??!!" He cried as his bum was consistently bouncing up and down on the wooden stairs.

_Thump thump thump_

"Hey, stop!! Ow ow!! Let me go!!" He cried again, his voice stained with pain.

I pulled him outside away from the confused Mary who was looking down from upstairs. I would have given the middle finger for no reason if my good conscience didn't stop me, so I just gave her a smile and walked away down the road with Gray in my hands.

_Drag drag drag_

_Slop slop slop (the sound of Gray's body going through puddles of water.)_

"LET ME GO CLAIRE!!!" He roared, loud and clear. The only time he shouts like this at me is when he's angry, and boy is he angry…I looked back at him and shrugged carelessly, letting go of his collar unrepentantly and making him fall into the water on the road. An 'oof' escaped from him as his head hit the floor with a loud 'thump'. My eyes widen and I quickly knelt down to see if he was okay. His eyes were closed and he had a painful look on his face. Oh Goddess, what if he got a concussion?!

"G-Gray? You okay??" I softly touched his head, patting it over and over again to see if there was blood anywhere. It was mostly just wet…I waited for him to open his eyes, thankful that no one was roaming on the streets this time of the day. "C'mon Gray, don't kid around!! I'm serious okay?? Wake up dammit!!"

"…" There was no answer.

"I'm sorry!! Just wake up, don't die on me Gray, who's going to be my best friend if you go?" I hugged him closer to me and started sobbing uncontrollably, "Who's going to make fun of the Harvest Goddess when she's on TV with me? Who will eat the baked corn I make for lunch? Who's going to fix my tools when they're broken? I'm sorry okay?? I shouldn't have had thrown you outside my house. You can go there anytime if you'd like if you wake up!! I'll even let you sleep there!! Just wake up you fat jerk!!!" I was starting to prattle on useless things as I sat there on the cold road, shaking with Gray in my arms. Tears were starting to fall onto his face when suddenly…

"Did you really mean all those things you just said?" Gray's voice simpered gently amidst the sound of my sobs. My tears stopped dead in their tracks, it was as if they started to crawl back into my eyes as I looked down at the man in my arms who was looking up at me with bright curious eyes, similar to a lost puppy on the streets. My jaws dropped open, was he listening to me all this time?? "Did you Claire?" His voice rang and echoed in my head over and over again, pressuring me. The only thing I could think of to say was…

"I don't know what you're talking about." And I pushed his head away, lightly of course, and got up to walk away. His cold hand shot up and took hold of my wrist, giving me a shock. He twirled me into his open arms, my face was pressed against his chest as I lost my balance to stand and was leaning on his figure. When the cookie did he get up??

"Did you really mean it Claire?" He asked again for the third time, looking directly down at me with a very serious face. I was blushing slightly at being so close to him, his warm breath was brushing off against my face, his body temperature radiated warming my body, and his wet hair had water drops dripping on my face. I never noticed how handsome he was in a closer range…I was stuttering like a mad fool, saying 'uh-uh-uh's. It took me some time before I got my act together and be able to produce one sentence.

"Move the cookie away from me Gray!! I didn't say anything, you were hallucinating." I started to push his face away, probably squishing his facial features into distortion.

"Cookie?? Is that a new swear word of yours?? My Goddess, you're creative. But whatever, back to the subject, I heard it okay? Umm….Iwasn'treallyunconscious." I tried to make of what he said at the last sentence, but to my dismay I failed.

"Care to say that again slowly Gray?"

"I…wasn't really…unconscious at the time you were apologizing..." He said slowly, closing his eyes shut and turning his face the other way.

"…" So his fainting act was a fake to make me feel guilty and start apologizing to him about the wrong things I've done?? I could feel my face turning red with fury, my lips shaping into a pout, a scream clotting in my throat, needing to be released into the world, the veins in my brains were beating inside my skull in a hard and irregular rhythm. I pushed him away from my body as far as I could to have enough space to scream at him. "You stupid prick!! You made me feel guilty!! I was about to allow you to stay at my house!! You were toying with my feelings weren't you?! I hate you-" I was cut off again by Gray who leaned closer to me and…

and…

and…

and…

kissed my cheek…….

What the cookie??

* * *

That's it for Chapter 10, Claire Gets Jealous, please don't forget to review and have a nice day. :)

I'm serious, _please _click that button with the green letters, click it and you'll make me a very happy author~ XD


	12. Chapter 11

A/N: Here you go, Chapter 11, fresh from the oven. XD Well last time there was a small fluffy bit at the end, Gray kissed Claire(on the cheek. But it's stlll a kiss.)!! Yayy! And now this chapter, I _tried _to make it fluffy, but I'm not sure if it is, so you decide. Review if you like it~

Disclaimer: The day I rule the world will be the day I own Harvest Moon. So never.

* * *

Chapter 11

Gray's POV

_Chopchopchopchopchopchopchopchopchopchop_

_Tic Toc Tic Toc Tic Toc Tic Toc_

I stood silently in the corner of the room, staring at Claire who was rampaging in her kitchen with her favorite knife and a piece of corn from last summer. Kernels were flying high in the air, hitting everything that was in their way as Claire diced the poor corn. Jeez, if she didn't want to eat it, she could have given it to me!! But then again I couldn't stop her since she's having one of her fits thus, she cooks to relieve her stress. Even Catfish wouldn't dare to go near his owner, he was shivering next to me, whimpering. Maybe I should try making an attempt to talk to her…

_Chopchopchopchopchopchopchopchopchopchopchopchop_

"Ahh…..Claire?" My voice quietly simpered out of my lips. The moment it touched her ears, I regretted the fact that I interrupted her cooking dance of fury.

She stabbed the knife right down into the wooden counter, making a bright gleam as it smiled evilly towards me. My face reflected off the shining metal while my neck was near the rim of the knife itself. Oh Goddess, if I disrupt her again she would most likely kill me, no matter friend or foe. I could feel the enmity rise from Claire's body aura as she slowly turned to face me.

"What do you want Gray? You want another souvenir from my palm on your face? Hmm?" She grinned, showing her pearly whites and canine teeth. (fangs) I shivered helplessly as I remembered 20 minutes ago.

xxx

_Silence cloaked the two soulless bodies that stood on the streets, one was gawking while the other was blushing furiously. Ironically, the one blushing was Gray. His face was hidden shyly under his old UMA cap, his hands shoved in his pockets as usual, his eyes staring aimlessly into empty space, surprised at what he just did. For years after the 'kissing incident' he never had the courage to place his lips anywhere near Claire's facial features, but he was just ecstatic to find out that Claire had missed him and felt sorry for what she did to him. As time passed, it started to turn more and more uncomfortable as both stood silently wrapped in the awkwardness from Gray's sudden action. He let out rigged cough and started to speak. _

'_So…you were gonna let me stay at your house?' Gray looked up, gnawing at his bottom lip, anticipating at Claire's response. _

'_I…I…urr…I…You….YOU WERE__** UNCONCIOUS**__ SO THAT DOESN'T COUNT!! Now……..if you'd excuse me….' With that Claire quickly made her way away from Gray, hiding her face under her golden bang. As she passed Gray, he got a swift look at her and just had to stop her. _

'_You're blushing?? Claire, the almighty farmer is blushing. Oh my goodness gracious, Mary mother of God, you were BLUSHING!!' Gray emphasized the last word, his face both radiating happiness and shock at the same time. Claire's face reddened as Gray continued to pester her, even though his annoyance was unintentional she loathed it. _'If he says ONE more word about this again…_' Claire thought to herself, her hands were tightly balled up into fist, her body trembling with embarrassment. _

'_So you really DID mean all those things right? So can I go to your house now?' Gray asked, a goofy elementary kid grin plastered to his face, eyes twinkling with delight and anticipation. Little did he know that he's about to receive the worst kind of gift he would get from an embarrassed Claire._

_SLAP!!!_

xxx

My hand immediately shot up to touch the red hand print on my face, it burns for the first few seconds, but after that the pain started to wash away leaving only a mark. A very noticeable mark…

"No…" I meekly replied.

"Good." And with that, she went back to chopping vegetables, rinsing tomatoes, murdering cows, whatever she does when she cooks. There was a very awkward silence between us as she ignored me and all I can do was watch her, well since it seems as if I was not needed here…I made my way towards the door but was stopped when she called my name.

"Gray? Where do you think you're going? I'm making lunch."

She's making me lunch?? Me?? And I thought she was mad at me, I was about to run up to her and hug her, tell how happy I am…but on second thought, I should have a little more pride than this…

"That's alright, I could go eat at Mary's." I snobbishly replied, smirking as I wait for Claire's reaction. Her eyes widen and she stabbed her knife back into the counter. She's so cute when she's jealous…

"No! I already made you lunch so you're eating here. No but's!! ......I'm making baked corn…" Okay, you changed my mind. I gleefully _skipped _towards her and hugged , carefully moving her away from the knife, in case she might want to stab me…

"Heeheehee…Stop it Gray. Now move away, I'm cooking." I could hear her giggling, something I haven't heard for a long time. -sigh- If the world ends today, I die a happy man. The love of my life (even though it's one-sided, I still love her.) is in my arms, the smell of bake corn is in the air, and we have probably just made up again. She was still laughing as she smacked my back with a pan (thank Goddess it's not a knife.) and pushed me away, turning back to cook. I walked out of the kitchen section to go relax on the chair when Claire said the sweetest words I have ever heard.

"Gray…I love you, you know that? I don't know what I would do without you." I instantly turned 180 degrees, my face burning in red and my eyes big as apples, but when I saw the way she smiled and the look in her eyes, I knew it that she didn't mean it the same way I felt. It was the smile of friendship, not the same a person in love would look. I simply smiled back to her, saying, "I love you too, Claire. Forever and ever." And I meant it…heart and soul. She beamed, what seems to be the most beautiful sight I have seen in my life.

"Hey…Claire?" I called out of the blue, she replied with a soft 'hmm?' as she continued to cook lunch. Oh crap…I forgot why I called her name, I was unable to speak, swallowing a big lump that was caught in between my throat before blurting out, "You're front hair's getting longer." Realizing what I have just said, I was invisibly smacking my own forehead, why did I just say that? I slowly, and awkwardly turn away, forcing myself to divert my attention to something else less embarrassing. Back in the kitchen I heard her mumbling inaudible, probably talking to herself about how weird I am. It became quiet again for a moment before Claire's footsteps devoured the silence, she walked up next to me, holding a…..pair of scissors?? What is she going to do…cut me up?

"What are those for?" I asked, raising my eyebrow as I glanced up at her. She snorted.

"You act like you have forgotten, Gray. You always cut my hair for me, just now you said that they were long and you were right, I could barely see straight with hair strands poking my eyes all day." With that she sat down in front of me on the floor, raising her head up and closing her eyes. Oh right, I forgot. I took the pair of scissors in her hands gently and said, "Close your eyes 'kay?" She nodded obediently and sat up straight. "Don't move." I instructed and again received an obedient nod. As I stared at her face, her eyes shut tight, her pink rosy lips relaxed, and her cheeks flushed by the heat in the kitchen, a sudden wave came over me and before I know it, I was moving closer towards her face. Our lips were only a few inches apart from each other, I could feel her steady breath at my lips. I closed my eyes…and silently pulled myself away from her, sighing and shaking my head. What was I doing……I picked up the scissors again and started snipping her hair away, piece by piece, strand by strand. Suddenly, the most unimaginable and weirdest thing happened…

_Snore…._

"…" I was speechless when I bend down to see Claire asleep…in her sitting position. I would have had burst out laughing but had to refrain myself once more, I chuckled and muffled a laugh. She's so cute…and random. I bended down to move her bangs away from her forehead and gave it a small peck…before flicking hard enough to leave a red mark so that she'll wake up.

"I'M NOT SLEEPING!!" She yelled getting as fast as she can to prove herself…bumping her head into my jaw in the process…we both fell over backwards, each grasping onto their own body part.

"Thanks Claire…" I groaned. She winced painfully before crawling back into the kitchen section mumbling, "Your welcome…thanks for the wake-up call…"

"Don't mention it." I replied back, walking over to her bed to lie down for awhile.

--

Claire's POV

Ahhh~ That was simply just satisfying. I have already made up with Gray, had a wonderful lunch, of course since it was made by _moi_, I finally got my bangs cut, I had a nice little nap, and my work is done for the day. Zack has just left with the goods and I have just received my income for today. The beautiful sight of gold in my pretty hands is just music to my ears. (?) 1386 gold today, I'm rich! Now if I carefully save all my money for…a season, I should be able to finally get Gotz to build me a bathroom!! Of course, I could have built it myself, but I'm just too tired nowadays. Oh, just the thought of finally relaxing in my own bathroom calms me, now I won't have to secretly go skinny dipping in the river when nobody's around or walk to the hot springs at night.

As I slowly sauntered towards the house, my head started pondering on the most important topic of the day.

What should I have for dinner?

Hmm…should I have the normal salad? I do feel like I'm gaining more weight these days, but then again tonight is kind of special. Maybe I should celebrate at the inn with Gray……oh wait…he must be sleeping at Mary's by now. Hmph! That librarian hag. Bet she doesn't even _know _how to make baked corn. Bah humbug!! I'll celebrate myself!! I'll devour 5 whole pieces of baked corn ALONE!!

The very idea made me even more furious than ever, I stomped inside the house and as I slammed the door close, something red caught my attention. I turned to stare at my bed where I found…

…Gray innocently snuggling under the sheets…on my bed…in my house. My head turned blank as I stared at Gray smiling towards me with those puppy eyes and that naïve smile. His _red_ hair was still spikey as his old ugly hat laid silently on my bed stand where the vase was standing. He has already changed into his……rainbow ore printed pajamas that I bought him last Christmas. There was dinner on the table, at least…I think it's dinner, and a mess in the kitchen. Not to mention my cook book on the ground. I was speechless, not because I was touched that he made me dinner, but because my kitchen became hell's kitchen!!! I walked over to the dinner table, took the plates that were filled with inedible objects and pushed them all down into the trash can before starting to clean the kitchen up.

"HEY!!! I made that!!" Gray cried as he jumped out of bed and put on the Barney the Purple Dinosaur fluffy head slippers I got him. No special occasion really, I just thought it would go nice with the I bought him.

"I know, that's why it's going down the chute. I'm too young to die." I cried dramatically while continuing to scrub and wash the kitchen. Buying a new one would be easier after what _he _did to it. I sighed, pushed past him to walk over to my fridge to get some ingredients. Cabbage…oil…eggs…flour…huh, Savory Pancakes it is then. I carried the ingredients out and laid them on the counter, took out my knife and a frying pan. I started to dice the cabbage, trying to ignore Gray as best as I can since he was looking at me chop the green vegetable with interest from the back of me, his warm breath breathing at me neck. I'm trying very hard here to not turn around and stick my knife in his guts right now.

"Gray? What do you want?" I finally asked, tired with having him at the back of me.

"I want to cook too." He simply said, walking to face me outside the kitchen. His puppy dog eyes were pleading like he was a 6 year old. What is he? A kid?

"What are you? A kid? I'm not your mommy and if you haven't notice, I'm trying to cook something edible for myself." I went back to concentrating on slicing the cabbage, _hinting _Gray that he's being a nuisance. Guess he didn't get the hint since he poked around in the kitchen and finally pulled out a plastic butter knife. What's he going to do with that?

_Chlomp. _

"…" Me.

_Chlomp._

"…" Gray. (deep in concentration)

_Chlomp._

Oh my Goddess….he's starting or trying to cut up my cabbage with the plastic knife. What has taken over him?? Is today 'Gray-Becomes-A-Toddler' day?? I stared at him chopping up 1/3 of my cabbage while still cutting the cabbage myself, but then….

_Chop!_

"ARGHHHHHH!!! BLOODY HECK!! MOTHER FUDGER!!" I screamed in agony as I accidentally cut my finger, well, not cut _cut_, but it still hurts like heck!! Gray's eyes widen in shock and panic, he took hold of my knife and threw it into the sink before pulling my finger and putting it into his……mouth??!! My face turned red and hot as he started to suck the blood out of my finger, I could feel myself burning up every second. I closed my eyes shut and waited for him to stop. The feeling of having the blood sucked out from my finger was tingly…yet…comforting for some reason. An unnecessary breath escaped my lips, my tense body relaxed once more when he pulled my finger tip out of his mouth.

"You okay?" He asked as his lips parted from my finger, "Your face is all red, are you hurt? Want to go to the clinic?" I shook my head and took a step back from him. My heart was beating so fast, it's not normal…it's skipping a beat. I couldn't even answer him right now, it's as if I don't even know what to say to him. I couldn't even look straight at him like how I always do. My face instantly fell to face the floor and a bare breath escaped my lips, "I…I'm fine."

What's going on with me?? So what? Gray just sucked my finger, big deal Claire! Toughen up already, you act as if he just saved your life!! I shook my head and slapped myself once, which made me receive a confused and pitiful look from my friend. I looked back at him and smiled, he smiled back.

"Guess you're fine now. So….since you hurt your finger….can I cook?" His eyes started to sparkle again as he looked down at the half chopped cabbage. I looked at my finger and then looked back at him, he acted as if I just had my arm chopped off, I wanted to shout out _'Dude! It's only my finger, I can still cook!!', _but then again, he looked like he's so excited or something. Bahh…maybe just this once. I nodded, giving him my approval, he beamed and _skipped _to the sink to pick up my knife before _dancing _back to the cabbage. I'm starting to regret this……I walked over to him and touched his shoulder, "But I'm giving you instructions alright? So you have to do whatever I say." He nodded, his beautiful aqua eyes still sparkling with enthusiasm.

--

"Gray!! Don't just chop it wherever you like!! Try to make it into a straight line! I SAID STRAIGHT, NOT CURVY!!" I scolded him for what seems to be the hundredth time in 10 minutes. His cooking skills sucks bad…he's cutting my cabbage into what looks like little chunks of cabbage in odd sizes. Guess my dinner is going to be crunchy with lots of nutrients…mmmm…crunchy.

"Okay, get a bowl," I instructed, pointing to the cupboard on top, "and pour the flour in there. But not all-"And before I could finish what I was saying…he did the exact thing I didn't want him to do.

_Pooosh~_

"-not all of it…" I finished as I watched a white explosion of flour occurring from the bowl.

"Oh." Was that all he could say?? Oh?? Jeez. I fanned the white flour pollution, fanning it all into Gray's face, I would have continued a little longer if someone didn't come interrupt me.

_Knock knock._

Who on Earth could it be at this time? I walked over to the door, not forgetting to pick my axe and kicked the door open, outwards. Wasn't such a good idea since it hit the visitor directly in his face.

"OWWW!! MY NOSE!!!!" Cliff cried, dropping the basket filled with grapes in order to hold his nose, I dropped my axe and quickly ran to him.

"Cliff!! I'm so sorry, I didn't know it was you. Are you okay??" I could hear Gray's footsteps running to stand at the back of me to see what was going on. Cliff's face was red, and it wasn't because he was embarrassed I think but because it hurt. Well…I did kick it pretty hard. My hands instantly shot up to hold Cliff's face, which made him open his eyes and blushed, his hands dropped down to show a big blotchy red patch on his nose. I leaned closer to him and started to blow on his nose, my aunt used to do this for me when I get hurt. Clearly it must have looked different from the back view or at Gray's perspective.

"What are you doing?" Gray's cold rigid voice called from the back of my head, his strong muscular arm came swooping me off my feet and he placed me at the back of him. He walked right up to Cliff and flicked his forehead…hard.

"Hey, you don't look so good Cliff, why don't you go home?" Gray asked, his arms crossed and his head cocked to the right. Was he telling Cliff to go home after what just happened to him? I pushed Gray to the side and walked over to Cliff, took his hand and start dragging him towards the house.

"C'mon Cliff, I'll make you dinner as a compensation for the medical bill." I invited, dragging him into my house but was stopped when he was somehow dragged back outside. "Gray…let him go." I ordered but it was unsuccessful since he retorted, "No! He should go home, he wants to go home, right Cliff?"

"Uhh…."

"No! He came here for a reason! C'mon Cliff!!" I grunted, pulling his arm as hard as I can while Gray's on the other side of Cliff pulling his arm too. As we stood there, both pulling on Cliff's arm, he finally had enough I guess.

"Stop!! Please……I came here to give Claire some grapes…" He half yelled half pleaded, he looked kind of tired now that I looked at him. Ever since I got him a job at the winery, he's been giving me grapes as a gift of gratitude. He turned to face me and then asked, "May I have a glass of water?"

"Huh? Oh. Sure. Follow me." I instructed, walking inside and not forgetting to stick my tongue at Gray, who I might add, was fuming in the background. Hah! Beat ya!! In your face Gray!!

--

Eventually, Cliff came to join the kitchen crew. "Cliff? Mind mixing the flour for me?" I pointed to the bowl that was filled with flour, Gray was constantly cutting the cabbage…again. Unfortunately for him, I don't want my dinner chunky. Cliff nodded and walked over to the counter but was pushed away by…well what do you know? It's Gray…

"Never mind Cliff, I can do it." And with that he squeezed in between Cliff and the counter to mix the flour.

"O-kaay…Then do you mind cutting the cabbage Cliff?" I asked, receiving a simple nod from Cliff again, but was pushed again by Gray.

"I got it!!" Gray's familiar shout echoed as he rushed in to squish in between Cliff and the cutting counter. I was constantly banging my head on the wall as I witnessed Gray's new childish behavior. When did Gray change from manly and stoic into childish and immature?? I need to sit down for awhile I suppose, maybe this Gray nightmare will go away. As I sat down in my favorite dining chair and started reading a book, some small object was simultaneously bouncing off my head. When I looked at the back, there were a bunch of small cube cabbages…the same cube cabbages that Gray first made. When I looked up at the kitchen, Cliff and Gray were cooking normally, so I decided to go back to reading.

_Boink._

"…"

_Boink. Boink._

"……"

_Boink. Boink. Boink. Boink. Boink._

"Okay. That's it!! Who's the one that's keeping on throwing cabbage cubes at me??" I asked as I slammed the book down on the table and twirled back to face the two Jamie Oliver wannabes. Gray pointed at Cliff who was still peacefully mixing the flour, unable to sense that he was being framed. I walked over to the kitchen and picked up some cubes before shoving them into Gray's mouth.

"How do like them cabbage cubes?" I smiled, flipping my hair and walking over to Cliff. "Hey Cliffy. How's it going?" I grinned looking at the concoction of flour, eggs, and milk. I don't know why the cook book says only flour and oil, I mean, pancakes aren't supposed to be like that right? "Oh Cliff, you have a smudge right there." I said as I reach over to rub his cheek…making the smudge worse. Hehehehehehe. I looked over to Gray and gave him a thumbs up, receiving a thumbs up from him too. That whole night, we were pulling all kinds of pranks on each other…and the verdict? Well…

_Tadahhhhh~ (Sound effect for presenting Claire's dinner)_

"…" Me.

"…" Gray.

"…" Cliff.

The…_thing_ in front of us was just…repulsive. Not only was _my food _disgusting, but so was my kitchen!! AGAIN!! Somehow…I bet the big lady up there in heaven got it in for my kitchen. Going back to the food, it was…indescribable, the pancake was burnt black and oily, cabbage chunks were mixed in the concoction, the flour wasn't elaborate since I could see flour leaking out of a hole, and who put that fish there??

I turned to look at the two gentlemen who made my dinner, pointing at the fish head that decorated on the top with it's tail sticking out of the side. The two boys were putting on their best guilty face, of course Gray was giving me that DLYS smile of ours. (For those who forgot, it's dumb-looking-yet-sorry smile.)

"Okay…I'm not going to ask what else you guys put in there since it was my fault that even allowed you two to cook for me. Can I just ask something? Why did you put things not in the cook book in?"

"Well…I noticed how there's only cabbage in the recipe…and I thought you might need some calcium or vitamins…Cliff agreed with me…so we went to your fridge when you weren't looking and picked out a few things." Gray explained, scratching his head out of embarrassment. Cliff nodded, his face still facing the floor. I sighed and scratch my cheek out of instinct. What am I going to do?? I want to be mad but how can I when they were only trying to look out for my nutritious needs. Instead of hitting them or whacking them with a plate…I gave them a big hug.......I could feel their abs on my body…mmmm….abs…

That night, could have been the most fun night I've had with Gray since the wedding incident. After making fun of the pancake and each having a sandwich, I was tucked into bed while Gray and Cliff sprawled disgracefully on my floor, each with a pillow in hand. Guess there won't be anymore problems with having Gray sleep at my place if he stays down there.

* * *

Well do you like it? Do you not like it? If you like it, please review, and if you don't, please review your complaint. XD So go on, click the button, you know you want to. :}

Next Week: Kai's Return.


	13. Chapter 12

A/N: Hi guys!! I've just realized that for the past many chapters and updates, I always forgot to say thank you and how I appreciated the reviews I got from the lovely people who read and reviewed my story. T.T Well, I'll say it now...THANK YOU ALL OF YOU PEOPLE WHO REVIEWED AND READ MY STORY 'HELLO MY DARLING' AND YOU ALL EARN A COOKIE!! :D MY TREAT!!! lol. Anyways, I'd just like to say that this chapter was kinda badly written in my opinion and I didn't really like how it turned out. It was way more better than this when I had the idea in my head but it turned out horribly when I write it down. But I hope you would still like it. Enjoy~

Disclaimer: If I own Harvest Moon, Gray would be wearing only pants when working to reveal his bare chest and 6-packs when I(Claire) talk to him at work. But since he doesnt, it means that **I do not own Harvest Moon**. What a pity.

* * *

Chapter 12

"Yoohooo~ Guess what I got!!" I yelled as I entered the house with a box in hand. Gray was sitting peacefully in one of my dinning chairs watching……My Dear Princess?? Well this is disturbing…I walked over quietly and asked, "So is the demon lord a good guy or the bad guy?" He kept very still, eyes still glued to the screen and mutters something barely inaudible, "I hope he's the good guy…he's so charming…" And that was probably when reality gave him a good slap on the face, he turned to face me, his face red like a tomato, and he immediately turned off the T.V.

"Aww…and it was getting to the good part. They were about to kiss…" I lied, waiting to see his reaction, he was really refraining himself from turning the T.V back on again. "Don't work too hard or you might get brain damage." I giggled, putting the box in front of him, "Lookie what I got. My Auntie sent it to me."

"…A box? Well if you like that sort of thing-"

"Shut up. It's the thing _inside _the box, genius!" I punched his arm playfully, opening the cardboard package to see what was inside…it was a…oh…my…Goddess…

I shrieked with glee, bouncing up and down like what we normal city girls would do to express happiness, causing Gray to fall over backwards by surprise.

"What?? What is it??" He asked, his hand clutching his heart as he watch me beam at the object.

"It's a radio!!" I announced, picking up the metal device and showing it off to Gray. I started hugging it and kissing it, well who wouldn't? Now I wouldn't have to suffer watching only 4 T.V channels on weekends, I'll have something to dance to.

"…….A Radio? That's what this is all about??" He asked, I turned to look at him, rolled my eyes and turned back to gaze at my gleaming new radio. _Sigh~ _It's just so…pretty. A white metal device with shiny silver knobs that was capable of entertaining me with music was finally sitting in front of me. Of course Gray didn't see the significance of a radio since he was a *ahem* hillbilly. I stuck my tongue at Gray and walked towards the TV, pulling its plug out to make space for my brand new radio!! As I pressed the 'on' button, I received nothing but the sound of static, whacking it a few times and music starting coming out. Hallelujah!!

'_Do you hear me? I'm talking to you across the water, across the deep blue. Under the sky, oh my, baby I'm trying…'_

"Huh…never heard of it…but I like it. Wanna dance Gray?" I asked, smiling to him as I gave him my hand. He blushed and slowly step by step a gentle smile crept on his face. He nodded and gave me his hand, his other hand nervously touching my waist and the other holding my hand up. I giggled at his reaction when I moved closer to him to lean my head on his shoulder. As the soft music caressed the both of us, mesmerizing us with it's beautiful smooth rhythm, me and Gray danced, moving along with the gentle tune, until it came to a phrase-

'_I'm lucky I'm in love with my best friend. Lucky to have been where I have been. Lucky to be coming home someday…' (Jason Mraz-Lucky)_

Gray abruptly went rigid, his face reddening to his ears and down his neck, I looked up when he stopped dancing. "Gray? You okay?" The only answer I received was 'uh…um…ahh….uhhh…' he chuckled, scratching his head as his hand dropped from my waist, he coughed a few dry coughs and said, "Let's change the song." He giddily _ran _to the radio and pressed a few buttons, the song and the beat changed into a more fun and fast tune.

'_You!! Dance with me!! Here and now!! Cuz I love youuuuuuuu!! My friendddddddd~' (Written by the author. Lack creativity…) _

There was a slight unhappy groan coming from Gray as he changed the channel again.

'_Secretly in love with you, concealing it deep inside me. I have never disclosed this, for fear of being disappointed or losing you.__Withholding it for so long, it keeps distressing me. The closer we become, the more vulnerable I am. You glance at me, then I divert my eyes away looking down.__You are just within my arm's reach, but it seems so far away. The closer we are as friends, the less eligible it is for me to say.__' (Endorphin – _peuan sanit_….Thai song.) _

"Ahh…Gray?" I called, still confused and baffled at his actions. What is wrong with him?? He was persistently swearing at the radio and it's 'mother'. When it came back to the first song (Jason Mraz - Lucky) he froze and slowly turned to face me, putting his hand on my shoulder, he said, "I'm sorry to say this Claire…but this radio of yours has only 3 channels."

"What??" I shrieked, stomping over to the radio and pressing the button/knob to change the channel…he was sadly right since it came right back to the first song in two clicks. Is there a law here in Mineral Town or something about not having more than 4 stations to work with? Hmph!! I marched out the house to go continue with my farm work to release my stress about technology, leaving Gray alone in the house with the stupid radio.

--

Gray pouted in disappointment as he watch Claire stomping outside, grabbing an axe from her rucksack and starting to chop wood to release her stress towards the mechanical jig-ga-ma-bob. He turned to face the radio again and stuck his middle finger at it.

"It's your fault that she's angry, not mine…..." He accused it, he sighed at Claire's hot temper and leaned on the wall, he's already done with his work for today, he looked around the house and shrugged his shoulders. '_Might as well cook her dinner…_' He thought, walking over to the fridge to get out the ingredients for miso soup. He took out carrots (for health), fish (for brains), cabbage, and a few leftover red grass he found in the back of the fridge. (Claire kept it there for emergency winter pocket money.) As he start breaking and throwing all the ingredients in the big pot with hot water, he poured the miso powder in the jar into the pot while listening to the radio. As the song approaches a line, he froze-

'…_To an island where we met, you'll hear music fill the air. I'll put a flower in your hair…' (Jason Mraz - Lucky)_

'_I'll put a flower in your hair…?'_ And then suddenly, it hit him. Tomorrow was the Goddess Festival!! He has completely forgotten to ask either Claire or Mary to go with him, and then an idea struck him as the word 'flower' lingered in his head. He smiled and, dropping the miso jar and running outside to the mountains…forgetting to close the fire.

As he crossed the bridge in Mother's Hill, he entered the flower patch, breathing in the fresh and amorous scent of the flowers blooming in the wild. The idea of picking flowers to give to Claire and asking her to the festival tomorrow refreshed him. He made his way through the flower patch, picking only the ones that were perfect or almost perfect.

--

Back at Claire's place, she was having a lot of difficulty trying to refrain herself from hating Gray as she stared at the pot with the overflowing miso soup, her wet miso soup floor and a broken jar that has no more miso powder left. She would just love to chop off his hands and feed them to the cows so he couldn't cook anymore. Has he been suppressing his love for cooking for a long time or something?? Her kitchen couldn't take it anymore!! But then the thought of Gray trying to cook her dinner was very sweet, she just sighed and started cleaning up the kitchen before falling onto her bed and sleeping instantly.

'_Kai's coming tomorrow…things couldn't get any better than this…I probably should introduce him to Gray as my boyfriend._' She thought before closing her eyes and allowing her dreams to take over her mind, releasing her from reality.

--

Back in Mother's Hill

'_I should have bought a flashlight with me…'_ Gray muttered inconsistently as he wandered around in Mother's Hill with a hand full of wild flowers that are rotting every second he was stuck in the darkness. _'Now that I think of it…I think I forgot to close the gas at Claire's house……….uh-oh.' _He started panicking as the thought flashed in his mind, Claire would kill him if her kitchen was a mess again. He gulped down the lump that was stuck in his throat, loosening his shirt to get some air. He carefully crossed the wooden bridge, his hands gripping onto the rope and the flowers until he was sure he was on safe grounds. After escaping the bridge of death(or so Claire says), he let out a relieved sigh, patting his heart to calm it down. The sun has completely gone down, her duties were done for the day and it was time for the moon to shine instead. As the moon whistled for the stars to glow, it provided a little amount of light for Gray, who was clumsily fumbling over branches and stones that lay carelessly on the grassy floor. He sighed, this was useless, he hasn't come here for a long time so he has forgotten what was where and where was he. He would have been lost if it weren't for a light that suddenly came out of nowhere.

"Ahhh!! There you are Gray. Thank Goddess you're safe, I was worried about you when I saw you run into the woods in such a hurry." Claire exclaimed as she walked towards him with a big gigantic flashlight in her hand.

"Really?" Gray asked, but was disappointed when Claire answered him, "No. Not since you almost burned down my kitchen…again." She folded her arms, frowning at him in the dark. The sorry blacksmith scratched his cheeks out of habit, chuckling as he did so.

"Sorry…something came up."

"Yeah…whatever, but…thank you…for _attempting _to cook me dinner. It was…thoughtful of you." She smiled, blushing a bit, she motioned Gray to follow her as she started to lead him…that is until the flashlight ran out of battery. She let out a shriek, dropping onto the ground helplessly, blocking the path abruptly which made Gray trip over her and fall down flat on his face.

"Claire??" He called, clumping around on the ground to get to Claire who was frozen on the ground. She weakly replied an 'I'm here' to Gray to indicate where she was. He crawled over to her and she giggled meekly. "I'm stuck. I can't move…" She moaned.

"How can you be stuck?? There's nothing to hold you…Oh." He finally remembered Claire's Scotophobia, aka, fear of the dark. Every time she was stuck somewhere dark without a flashlight, she'll completely freeze in place. "Did you bring another pair of batteries with you or something then?"

"You think I'll know that this would happen??"

"Probably not…"

"…Gray……I want to go home….help me." Claire pleaded, her voice cracking as she started to break into tears. Gray sighed, following her voice and bending down in front of her. "Get on my back." He instructed but only heard a scared whimper. "I can't……I can't move…." She wailed, slumping onto the grassy ground powerless.

"You're such a handful." He chuckled, moving closer, grabbing Claire's hands and pulling them into the front to get a better hold on her. He got up, pulling Claire's useless body up with him as he carried her in the dark. He was secretly smiling to himself as he trudged pointlessly in the dark, happy to have her near him. "Claire…you know the way home right?" He asked, but the only answer he received was…

_Snore…._

"…….Claire??"

_Snoreeeeee….._

"Damn. Now how am I going to get out of this place?" Gray sighed, continuing on walking…oblivious to the fact that he was walking in circles around a tree near Gotz's place. As time pass…about an hour or so, Gray was gasping for breath and using every ounce of power he had left to walk, it was bad enough being lost in the forest at night with mosquitoes in every direction, but having to carry a sleeping person on his back that has Scotophobia too? If that person wasn't his best friend/crush, he would have thrown her into the Goddess pond as a human sacrifice for a power berry or a wish to get Claire to like him more. He continued on complaining while walking in circles until suddenly there was a light shone at the back of his head. He turned around to face a large unknown creature with a flashlight, out of instincts, he would have run away with Claire, but then luckily that creature was Gotz.

"Gotz. Thank Goddess that it's you." Gray sighed in relief. Gotz grunted a reply, "I heard noises outside my house and came to check it out, clearly it was you wasn't it?" He asked, annoyed at Gray for waking him up from his beauty sleep, drowsiness still lingered in his eyes as he stared at Gray. Gray gulped and said, "I couldn't find my way back to Claire's farm. Mind helping me out here?"

Gotz grunted again, walking up to Gray and grabbing his arm, he easily pulled Gray up north and pointed front. "There. You were only…what….5 steps away from the farm. Next time, don't walk in circles and bring a flashlight with ya." Gray blushed at the statement, nodding furiously before waving goodbye to Gotz and walking into the farm.

--

Inside the house, Gray carefully and gently placed Claire onto the bed, the very second she's off his back, he stretched as arms and legs. He looked over at Claire, who was snoring quietly as usual…drooling on her pillow. Gray chuckled, grabbing the sheets that were kicked down onto the floor and covering her from the cold. Remembering the flowers he picked before, he took them out of his pocket and placed them in Claire's empty vase. Before he was about to lie on the floor, his stomach grumbled loudly, indicating that he was starving. He quickly turned to see if it woke Claire up, which it didn't and silently tip toed towards the fridge. As he started rummaging in the fridge, he almost had a heart attack when Claire's said, "Gray…."

He didn't dare take his face out of the fridge so he nervously replied, "Y-yes?"

"…I love you."

His heart could have stopped beating that second, the moon dumpling that was in his mouth fell back onto the shelf as he blushed. After regaining his thoughts back, he asked, "Claire……could…do you…umm…want to go to…the Goddess Festival with me?...Tomorrow?" His face was still in the fridge, unaware that Claire wasn't awake but merely sleep-talking. She was quiet for a moment, his breath stopped, scared that he would be rejected but then she answered, "I do." Again, he wasn't aware that Claire was dreaming about being asked if she wants a free cow or not by Barley. He couldn't stop smiling, closing the fridge and walking over to Claire, he said a 'thank you' and bended closer to kiss her cheek before lying on the floor. He closed his eyes and the only thing he saw that night was Claire's face and hearts.

--

Gray's POV

I've woken up at 5am, tip toeing out of Claire's house to go to Gramp's. I got only 5 more hours before the festival and I need them to get Gramp's help in courting a girl, I also needed to borrow his tux. As I opened the door, Catfish started barking in small little yaps, oh Goddess, does it want Claire to wake up or something. I would have kicked the dog if it wasn't Claire's, so I simply grabbed it and took it outside with me, placing it on the farm land before running into town. As I jogged up towards the front door of Gramp's place, it only took one knock before he kicked the door open outwards.

"Why are you waking me up boy? At this time of the day?" Gramps roared in my face, how the hell did he even hear me knocking? I sighed and started telling myself _I can't get mad _over and over since I needed to borrow his suit. I tipped my hat and mumbled moodily, "I need the suit. I'm going to the festival-"

"And you're asking for it now??!! Boy!! Where was your head at??" And then he engaged into another one of his boring lectures about responsibility and punctuality. It took a full hour before he stopped talking and gestured me to go inside. I slumped after him as he walked into his bedroom and sat on the tip of his crummy old bed.

"So, what do you want again?" He grunted, rubbing his eyes to get rid of the drowsiness. I merely coughed and he already started lunging into another argument.

"What are you coughing for boy? What are you sick?"

"No."

"Then don't cough boy! Honestly."

"…" _Don't be mad, don't be mad, don't be mad, don't be mad. _I blew out a sigh of stress, facing Gramps again and getting right into business. "So, the suit, can I borrow it?" He put on his thoughtful face, rubbing his beard and tersely replying, "No."

"…" No? NO??!! What the hell '_No_'? "What do you mean no?? It's just a freakin' tux!!" I exploded at his face. His face got red with anger and he roared right back at me.

"Don't raise your voice at me, Gray!! Why should I lend it to you, tell me boy!!"

"I'm taking Claire to the festival!! I need-" But before I got the chance to finish my sentence, he stuffed the suit in my face with a happy smile……what?

"Well why didn't you say so, you have to look good for your partner. Go on, get dressed so I can teach you how to court her." He said cheerfully before walking outside, leaving me alone to dress. Again…what?? Still puzzled at what had just happened, I blanked for a moment but was slapped back into reality when Gramps voice came roaring from outside.

"ARE YOU GOING TO GET DRESSED OR STAND STILL LOOKING PRETTY, BOY??"

How did he know that I wasn't even dressing yet? I looked down at the suit in my hands, it was a plain black tux, no bow (Thank Goddess) and a normal blue tie with stripes. _Phew. _I was hoping that he didn't like wearing those fancy-looking suits that looked like robes. Guess we do have something in common. It took me sometime before I was done wearing the suit…what's left was the tie. The freakin' tie that I hate so much since I lived in the city…-groan- I walked outside, swinging the tie on my shoulder. Gramps eyed me from head to toe, nodding and saying 'hmm's. Why can't he just tell me if I look presentable or not?

"What about the tie? Don't tell me you want me to tie it for you." No. No way am I going to let his wrinkly old hands near my neck, who knows, maybe he have been keeping a secret hate for me and wants to strangle me. I shook my head and bluntly said, "I want Claire to do it." I could feel my face reddening, I didn't even know I could say things like that. After that he started lecturing and teaching me about how to court and treat women. It wasn't until later that I noticed it was already 9:30 in the morning. I gave Gramps a quick wave before dashing out of the place. I feel so weird wearing this suit. How can I not since I only wear these suits once a year at these Goddess Festivals…and I barely go there, so I suppose this is…the fourth time I'm attending it.

I walked up to Claire's door, and since I am such a _polite _gentlemen, I knocked on the door first and waited for her response.

"Wait!! I'm not done yet!!" She yelled back at me. Guess she's still dressing, her bed sheets were covering the windows, making the people outside unable to see. I looked around and leaned on the house, waiting for her to be done. It was already 9:40, 20 more minutes before the festival starts.

"Hey Gray! What are you doing here?" A voice called out to me from the north, I turned to see who it was and to my surprise, it was Kai in a purple suit. What's he doing here?

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Hehehe, guess the next chapter will officially be the start of the Gray and Kai battle for Claire. :) And so...review if you like it and review if you dont! Yes, I'm forcing you to do this cuz if you dont...well then...no next chapter for you!! XD Wahahahahaha -cough cough...choke- See you guys later!!


	14. Chapter 13

A/N: Hey everyone! I'm finally FINALLY done with my exams so I have a lot more time to write my stories, so hopefully I wont be late to update anymore, except if I get writer's block and you all know how easy it is to get those. Anyway, I would to thank you all who reviewed Chapter 12, truthfully, Chapter 12 got reviewed the most and I was very happy with the outcome. So here is Chapter 13, the beginning of the Gray vs. Kai for Claire battle, hope you like it. The story didn't really made progress since it's still stuck in the Goddess Festival, but....Enjoy~ (P.S. There's a sweet little scene at the end of this chapter for Graire fans. :D)

BTW: I forgot how the Goddess Festival was suppose to be like, so I kinda made it up in how I imagined it, so forgive me if it's wrong.

Disclaimer: Dun own Harvest Moon. I only own HMD(Hello My Darling)

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Chapter 13

"Kai. I can ask you the same thing. I thought you only come here during the summer." Gray said, looking Kai from head to toe. Kai has gotten rid of his purple bandana, revealing his scruffy brown hair that was going in every direction given as if it has a mind of its own. But of course, he still looks good. His purple bandana was tied on his wrist, and Gray has just noticed that he had ear piercings.

Kai just smiled happily and pointed towards the house. "I'm here for the festival of course, and I'm here to pick up Claire." And he walked up to the door and knocked three soft gentle knocks. Claire shouted back, "I'm done, I'm done!! Don't get your panties in a bunch!!" And she swung open the door, Kai had to jump away before the door whacked him in the face. There at the door revealed Claire who was completely beautified, her hair was not loosely hanging like always but it was in a tight, neatly done bun, decorated with moon drops and toy flowers that she found next to her in the morning. (Gray beamed when he saw this.) Her body was not covered in the same jean overalls and shirt, but replaced with a baby pink, spaghetti-strap dress that has been painted with small flowers all over, her muddy boots were kept in the shelves and in it's place was her only pair of white heels. Her face did not wear a lot of make-up, there was a small hint of blush on her cheeks, her lips coated in cherry lip balm, and her eyes were painted with a light coat of baby blue with a silver sheen eye shadow, highlighting her beautiful aqua eyes.

"Woah, Claire!! You look amazing, come here." Kai grinned, playfully tugging Claire closer to him as his long arms wrapped around her waist. Claire giggled playfully, the color of bright red kissing her cheeks softly but then it turned even redder when she noticed they had an audience. Gray. Gray was standing still, shocked at what he was seeing, his best friend and his love was in another man's arms. What's even more shocking was that Kai had just said that he's taking Claire to the festival.

Claire turned to smack Kai hard on the arm, freeing herself from his arms out of embarrassment.

"Guess I never told you, or forgot to tell you, Gray." She said, scratching her cheek awkwardly, humiliated that she was caught hugging her boyfriend by her best friend. "Well, there's nothing to hide from you I guess. Kai here is my boyfriend…hehehehehehe. You're not mad right?"

"…" Gray stayed silent, he didn't know how to respond. Was he mad? No, he was furious, furious with himself that he never told her earlier that he loved her. And now it was too late since she was taken.

"Oh great, you are mad. Don't give me the silent treatment Gray…" Claire continued pleading, "I was going to tell you. Honest, I am!"

Gray stayed quiet for a few more minutes before breathing out a tired sigh. Guess he really was too late. He looked up, he felt a sting in his eyes and the thought of punching Kai right in the face was awfully tempting. Kai was just standing quiet, watching the whole situation with his narrowed brown eyes. Finally, Gray spoke.

"I'm not mad…" He mumbled quietly. Claire squealed happily before hugging him tightly. Kai frowned and pulled her back. He growled at Gray, he's a jealous man and he doesn't want his girl friend hugging anyone else that wasn't him.

"Aww. You got a tux? Looks good on you buddy!" Claire laughed, patting his shoulder, Gray looked away from her, '_Guess I can only be a buddy to you Claire…_' He thought, mumbling a quiet 'thanks'.

"Bet you're taking…Mary to the festival huh? Umm….Good for you!! Oh hey, be sure to compliment her when you see her…you didn't do your tie yet? Here, I'll do it." She concluded herself before moving closer to Gray again to tie his tie. As she mention Mary's name, she couldn't help herself but feel a tang of jealousy, but that feeling was immediately disintegrated when she was pulled away. Kai narrowed his eyes, pushing Claire to the back of him.

"I can do it for him, Claire. I'm good at this." Kai gave a charming smile to Claire, who raised her eyebrows and shrugged. "Fine, I'll go wait there." She pointed towards the town entrance and walked away. Kai nodded before turning back to Gray and growled again.

"Don't go near her, Gray. She's mine." Kai instructed, pushing the tie upwards to tighten it till Gray had to choke. "I'm serious, I can tell that you like her, but I recommend you stay away if you don't want a fight with me." He threatened before walking away to where Claire was, his hand sliding over to wrap Claire's waist again. He glanced back at Gray and threw him a dirty look before walking away with Claire.

Gray looked after them, a chuckle escaped his lips, he ruffled his hair a bit and exited the farm, walking right behind by a few steps from the couple. As he eyed the back of Kai's head, he growled angrily in pure rage and jealousy. '_Don't be too sure Kai, because if you don't hold onto her, she may slip away from you one day. I'm willing to fight for her and believe me, I'll do anything and everything I can for her._' He thought.

As the three of them approach Rose Square, which to their surprise has been beautifully decorated in all its pink and frilly glory, both Gray and Kai showed an obvious look of disgust. Imagining the Mayor hanging pink lacey ornaments and doilies around the Square was disturbing, although the scenery went well with the girl's dresses. However, to be seen dancing in this type of background did not suit any of the guys. It seems that this year, the decoration has gone overboard as well.

The girls were all in pink dresses that were decorated and painted with flowers, Elli was giving out flower head bands that were strangely made by Cliff. Even Ann was wearing a dress, causing her to look a little disturbed when Cliff won't stop looking at her, Popuri and Karen on the other hand seems to enjoy the dress just fine. As Ann spotted Claire entering the Square, she ran with full speed in her hidden sneakers up to Claire and started to complain how uncomfortable she felt and dragging her away from Gray and Kai. Both guys looked at each other for a mere second before stalking off in opposite directions.

"Hey Gray." Cliff greeted, waving towards the sulking blacksmith who stomped towards him. Gray nodded back and sat down next to Cliff, who seems to be wearing an oversized tux. Cliff noticed Gray's gaze and answered, "Doug lent it to me."

He nodded and looked back at Claire who was still talking to Ann and comforting her about the dress. Mary was talking to Elli and Doctor in another corner, Karen was talking to Rick who wasn't listening but instead looking at her breasts, Popuri was talking, or flirting with Kai would be more appropriate. Although, she isn't really succeeding since Kai was just nodding and talking to her casually.

'_Why can't he just like Popuri again and go away?' _Gray thought before concentrating back on Claire. Cliff noticed this but stayed quiet, an invincible smile ghosted on his lips at the thought of his friend's and ex-roommate infatuation with his best friend. He has known this ever since the day she moved into this town, but of course if he said anything about it, Gray would immediately reject his feelings and turned away.

"Isn't she pretty?" Cliff simply said, watching Gray's reaction carefully.

"Yeah…she is." Gray replied, still watching Claire quietly, realizing what he just said, he blushed into a deep shade of red. "As a friend of course. Nothing more…" He mumbled at the end, looking away.

"Ladies and gentlemen, now, a dance from the lovely ladies of Mineral Town!!" Mayor Thomas cheered as 6 girls cloaked in pink sauntered over to the center nervously and giddily. (Except for Karen who walked over in full Goddess-mode with her chin up high and face full of pride.) As Karen walked over to stand in the front and center of the two rows, not forgetting to smirk at Claire at the back of her, she counted to three and they began their dance.

As the dance progressed smoothly, the audience was amazed and mesmerized by the graceful movements of the six maidens in pink. The aroma of the flowers tainted the air, permeating in every direction to calm the people. They moved like swans and twirled like the billowing winds. There was no flaw in their movement and it was like the world stopped to concentrate only on them. Claire, whose golden-spun hair shone out brighter than the rest was like the sun, shining in the dark as her beauty shone throughout Rose Square. Karen, the Goddess of beauty could have had enticed the men throughout the world. Ann, her cheerfulness and bright smile radiated from her face, spreading it to others. Popuri, her bubbly character and her ability to bring joy to the people around her filled the atmosphere like the spring sun, melting the winter frost. Mary, her riveting raven black hair that contrasts completely with her white marble skin left the crowd speechless and in awe as she moved with the soft rhythm. Elli who was always pure and kind filled the people's heart with warmth with just one smile from her rosy lips.

As the song and dance finally came to an end, everyone was sad to see it stop, but were all content to have seen it at all. They all applauded the six marvelous maidens, smiles and grins could not be washed from their faces after that event. As the applauds ceased to an end, the girls went back to their dates to rest, that is before the Mayor made another announcement.

"And now, we have a special announcement to make, I have just been informed that Karen and Rick are now engaged!! This event should be celebrated!! Please welcome the couple to the dance floor!!" The Mayor bellowed, his arms raised up to the sky dramatically. Karen pulled Rick onto the center and started to dance. A slow and soothing song was played in the background, welcoming other couples to enter. Elli looked up at the Doctor and quickly turned away when he noticed her looking at him. He smiled before giving her his hand to lead her to the center. After that, other couples started to dance. Gray's eyes swept over the floor and noticed Claire dancing in Kai's arms, he grunted, his eyes immediately looked away and saw Mary who was standing alone. A small smile crept up his face as he got up and made his way over to her.

"May I have this dance, Mary?" He asked, holding out his hand for her to take. She looked up and smiled kindly, nodding and giving him her hand. They both nervously walked over to the center, Gray blushed a bit as his hand took hold of Mary's waist. Mary laughed a bit, her hand touching his lean shoulders. As they both started dancing, Gray threw glares at the back of Kai's head, looking at him intently and cursing him to fall or step on Claire's foot. To his disappointment, it never happened.

Over at Claire, she have just noticed Gray coming onto the dance floor, as a friend, she _should _feel at least happy that her best friend gotten a dance partner, but something inside her was on fire when she saw Mary. It gave her a quick but painful stab of jealousy when she saw his hand on Mary's waist, she felt like she just wanted to rip it off and step on it.

"Hmph." Claire twirled around in Kai's arms to look somewhere else. Kai noticed her sudden anger, he looked over to the other couples that were dancing, but he didn't see anything that might have angered the little blond farmer in his arms. He obviously didn't notice Gray who ended his dance and walked back to Cliff. He chose to ignore it and continued to dance, but was interrupted when Popuri's loud high-pitched voice came into his head.

"Hey Kai!! Could you dance with me once? Just one time, pleaseeeeeeee?? Claire, you wouldn't mind would you? Just one danceeeeee!! I don't have anyone to dance with…" Popuri pouted her lips, using her _red_ puppy dog eyes to the maximum. Kai looked over at Claire to see if she allowed him to dance with the pink haired girl in front of them.

"Sure, go ahead Popuri. He's all yours, I'm a little tired myself." With that she handed Kai's hand to Popuri and smiled.

"Yay!! Thanks Claire!!" Popuri squealed in delight, dragging her ex-boyfriend to the other side of Rose Square.

At the spot where both Cliff and Gray was standing, Cliff noticed how Claire was already all alone, lacking company and a dance partner. Of course, he always wanted to have a dance with her for once, but due to his lack of courage and how his friend at his side is complaining consistently under his breath, he decided to skip his chance. "Hey Gray," Cliff whispered, "She's available. Go get her buddy." With that, Cliff mustered all of his strength and gave Gray a big push at the back. Gray who was still deep in thought was abruptly shoved, giving him a shock as he bumped and tumbled helplessly into Claire.

"Hey!!" She grunted, still miffed with jealousy before she turned to see who crashed into her. "Gray! C'mon, dance with me!!" She beamed, dragging him to the center.

"Woah! Easy there tiger!" Gray chuckled as he was manhandled halfway across the square. "Umm…okay…" Gray hesitated when he was supposed to hold Claire's waist, although his whole heart was for Claire and he has occasionally dreamt of having her as his wife, the idea of touching her body never really occurred to him. Claire noticed his hesitation and giggled, she took his hand, which made Gray blushed, and led his hand to her waist before smiling to him.

"Calm down already, it's just a dance." She soothed him, but inside she was trying her best to stay calm. Her heart was beating uncontrollably and she was trying hard not to blush.

"Ye-yeah. Phew…thanks, Claire." He smiled slightly as he began to lead her in the dance. She nodded and pretended to concentrate on her steps as she blushed like mad.

'_Calm down Claire……..oh Goddess…why does he have to be so Goddess-damn hot today? I'm so going to hell if I like my best friend..._' She thought, peeking through her golden bangs to look at him, noticing a small toy flower petal on his hair.

"Gray. You have something there…I'll get it." As Claire tiptoed to pull the petal off of Gray's hair, Gray bent down for her to make it easier. Not too far from Claire, Karen was dancing with Rick and as she saw Claire, she thought it would be fun to knock Claire off balance, so she twirled around and intentionally bumped right into her. Little did she know…what she did led it to a whole new situation.

Claire, who was bumped into, fell forward towards Gray, who was bending down and facing Claire………and the next thing everyone knows, Gray and Claire were kissing.

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Kinda messy in the ending in my opinion. Anyway, you know the drill. Review if you like and review if you dont. See you next week.

A Message for Reviews:

ChaosMorning: Of course not, she was sleep-talking, she doesn't even know she 'agreed' to go with Gray.

Kity go moo: Thanks for the nudge. lol. I hope this chapter is good.

Lian: I'm sorry, I SO want things to be that easy for Claire and Gray, but it's just too easy if Kai's like that, he should be more of a challenge for Gray. But I really appreciate it getting ideas from you.

.xxRuthieCutiexx.: That was cute. I agree with Claire, she is so ending up with Gray. Feel bad for Kai though.

.Amberleaf.: Lol. Yup, Gray got pwned. XD

Okapi95: Gray's got plans up his sleeve, that I'm sure of. :} I'm planning on making it fluffy when Kai's away.

quickcutie: Thank you, I hope this chapter was good. :)

shiro-chan x bed-wetter-momo: I'm glad you like the story. Thanks for reviewing.

chocobo86: Thanks a lot April!! I hope you review again. :D


	15. Chapter 14

A/N: Sorry!! I'm so sorry about the late-ness of this chapter!! I had a very difficult time writing the short fighting scene since I never wrote one before and had no idea how it should be. I hope it turned out okay. Anyway, as a compensation, I'm trying to quickly finish the next chapter and update it ASAP. And since Kai is out of the picture for the time being, I'm going to try and squeeze in as much fluffiness as I could. It's time for Gray to show Claire what he's made off!!! Woot!!

*Btw, reading your reviews...I somehow got the feeling that everyone thought that Claire and Gray were kissing by themselves, not because Karen pushed them. Maybe it's just me and my bad reading skills. So...umm...this is me just telling you if you read wrong. Hehehe.*

Disclaimer: I don't own Harvest Moon

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Chapter 14

'_Eyes wide open, lips smashed together, and the crowd looking towards me and Gray. Yup, needless to say, this must be what Ann was talking about when she said that Gray and I are the weirdest best friend couple she ever saw. What's even weirder is that…….after the shocking part of realizing that Gray and I were kissing (thanks to Karen…ooh, I hate her fudging guts) I actually…felt……well…not sick or disgusted….but……how do I say this…I kind of……enjoyed it? No…….this is wrong, this is SO wrong. This must be the second kissing incident Gray and I are in._' Claire thought.

Time stopped, people froze, no one moved as they witnessed the picture in front of them. As seconds turned to minutes, Kai, who was Claire's boyfriend, finally came back to his senses as he realized what Gray and Claire was doing. His head was immediately filled with rage and once the numbness that was generated by the sudden shock dissolved, Kai took long strides thus filling the gap left between him and Gray. The second Kai was close enough, his fist shot out and connected with his love-rival's jaw, sending a surprised and shocked Gray flying backwards into the decorative flower pots. The festive atmosphere was instantly shattered at the same time that Gray retaliated, hurling himself into Kai and punching back with power gained from experience in creating tools. Claire who was still mesmerized by the unexpected feeling from the accidental kiss was finally aware of what was going on and started screaming at both of the bodies who were now rolling over on the floor, to stop. Finally, after what seemed like hours, the remaining men who were standing in the crowd ran in and struggled to separate the two boys filled with fury. Never has an incident such as this occurred in the peaceful Mineral Town so it was normal that none knew how to behave under these circumstances.

"STOP!! BOTH OF YOU!! I WILL NOT TOLERATE ANY VIOLENCE TODAY…OR ANY OTHER DAY!!" Mayor Thomas roared over the commotion, silencing all who spoke and freezing the actions of the two angry men. The mayor exhaled a deep breath before speaking again, this time more calmly. "Now be off with the three of you-" He pointed at Claire, Gray, and Kai. "-and go fix your problems, you three are banned from the festival today." He ordered before turning to face everyone else to tell them to continue on with the festival.

As the three walked away from Rose Square, Claire was consistently mumbling to herself about why _she _had to be banned along with the two fools at the back of her. As they arrived at the farm, Kai's sudden shouting gave Claire a shock.

"WHY ARE YOU FOLLOWING US??" Kai roared back at Gray who was giving Kai a dirty look. Claire turned around to see and heaved a sigh, shaking her head as she watch another fight about to start.

"I'm supposed to be the one who ask YOU this since you should be at the inn!!" Gray retorted back.

"Well, smart-ass, I'm staying at my girlfriend's place today. YOU'RE the one that should be staying at the inn since you're only a friend." Kai gave Gray a smug smirk as he watches Gray grind his teeth with anger and jealousy. That was until Gray had the perfect comeback.

"Well I'm living with Claire right now, ask her if you want to."

"Guys…C'mon…give it a break…" Claire muttered, but it was sadly ignored.

"What? Claire, is it true?" Kai's attention diverted to his girlfriend, rage in his eyes as he soaked up Gray's words. Claire narrowed her eyes moodily as she threw a dirty glance at Gray for saying that, she would have said no if the idea of Gray staying at Mary's again didn't cross her mind. There was no way in hell she's allowing Gray to stay at Mary's again.

"He is. You have a problem with that, Kai?" Kai's eyes widen with disbelief, Gray smiles victoriously as he watch his rival stuttering like a fool.

"HELL YEAH I HAVE A PROBLEM WITH THAT!!! YOU'RE MY GIRLFRIEND AND YET YOU LET ANOTHER MAN LIVE WITH YOU??!!" Kai burst out in fury, his balled up hands were trembling from anger. Without thinking he connected his heavy fist with Gray's jaw, causing the blacksmith to fall over backwards to land on the ground with a 'bam'. Gray's head, hit by Kai's sudden attack, fell onto the floor which caused him to become unconscious.

"KAI!!!" Claire screamed, shoving him a little bit before bending down to see Gray's condition. He was knocked out cold. She grumbled a few swear words before dragging Gray by the hand towards her house and shouting back to her boyfriend, "And you can forget about staying at my house!! You can just stay at the inn!!" She pouted and continued to drag.

"WELL FINE!!! I'LL STAY AT THE INN SINCE YOU CARE ABOUT HIM SO MUCH!! AS IF I WANTED TO STAY HERE IN THE FIRST PLACE!!" With that, the angry beach bum stomped away, shouting various words into the air.

"Hmph! Lousy good for nothing boyfriend. We'll have a great time together, right Gray?" She asked the unconscious man, receiving nothing but silence. "Yeah, I thought so too. Let's get you into bed buddy. You're not looking so good with a busted lip and bruises." She smiled jokingly as she continued to talk to herself as if she was talking to her friend.

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Gray's POV

Arghhh……my head….that fudging Kai, wait till I get my hands on him…did I just say 'fudging'? Must be Claire's weird behavior rubbing off on me. My hand's traveled up to hold my jaw where I was last punched, moving it a bit produced a loud crack. I slowly stirred and was surprise to find Claire asleep at my side, cuddled up next to me under the blankets. I froze where I laid, unable to move or produce a sound, afraid that Claire would wake up. But then all my work was for nothing since she woke up by herself after a few seconds. She lazily looked up at me and smiled.

"Hey…you're awake…took you long enough." She yawned and stretched languidly before crawling out of bed. How can she not be affected at all by this?? Just seeing her sleeping next to me a few seconds ago was about to give me a heart attack. "You were knocked out cold by Kai, did you know how worried I was? I was nursing you and cleaning your wounds for a long time for you to wake up." She complained, but I could see a smile on her lips as she talked. She was worried? Then I would be willing to get knocked out any day. I wasn't able to wipe off the grin on my face as Claire waddled over to the kitchen, pouring some kind of liquid substance into a bowl before coming back to me with a spoon in the other hand.

"I made you porridge. Should be easier to eat with that busted lip of yours, plus, I know you hate this stuff as much as I do." She started to smile evilly, I could see tricks dancing in her eyes.

"If you know that I hate it, why did you-"

"Make it? Because you always make me this junk whenever I'm sick, so this is payback." She giggled, dumping the bowl in my hands and walking away to the fridge. I was frowning as I looked down at my food. But then an idea suddenly crossed my mind, it was a long-shot, but if it works, it's worth it. I looked over at Claire, picking up the spoon and 'accidentally' dropping it onto the floor. That grabbed Claire's attention.

"What's the matter, Gray? Was it too hot?" She asked as she walked over to me. I faked a sigh.

"No…it's not that. It's just that…my hand hurts, I can't hold the spoon." I turned away, feigning a frown, waiting for Claire's response. It wasn't what I expected though…

"Then use your other hand dummy!!" She scolded, picking up the spoon and handing it back to me. Well…at least I tried. Time to move on to 'Plan B'.

"Hey, remember the many times you were sick and how weak you were? I had to stay next to you _all day_, baby-sat you _all day_, and missed work _all day_ because you were sick. I had to clean up after you, feed you, cook for you, and entertain you for hours and did you ever hear me stutter a complaint?? And now I'm just asking for you to help feed me porridge and you can't-" I rambled on, noticing the uneasiness in Claire's face as she remembered her sick old days.

"Alright alright…shut up already. You could have just asked nicely you know." She mumbled, swiping the spoon and bowl away from me. "Do you need me to read you a bedtime story too?" She asked, does she think I'm a 5 year old or something?? I gave her a scrutinizing stare to see if she was sane which made her chuckle a bit before scooping the rice with the spoon. "Choo-chooo!!! Open wide, Gray!!! 'Ahhhhhhhhh-um' The train is going into the tunnel!!" She squealed playfully as she fed me the first bite…it was humiliating enough to witness what she was doing, it's good that no one is here to witness it too.

Just before she was able to make the train sounds again for the second bite, there was a knock at the door. As she opened the door, there was Cliff, standing in his oversized tux. I just had to open my big mouth.

"H-hey Claire, I came to visit Gray." Cliff pointed towards me, why do I feel like I see him more often these days when I'm alone with Claire? Party pooper. "Hey man. How are you feeling?" He walked inside to stand at my side. I would have been a bit glad to have someone worry about me, if it wasn't right now when I get to be with Claire alone. I finally got rid of Kai for the day and now I have to deal with Cliff??

"Eh…I'm alright, so you can go home now." I completely gave him an obvious hint how I do not want him here at the moment, but it seems Cliff didn't get it very much…

"Why would I do something like that? I'm here to help…and since Kai's sleeping in the same room as me, I'm afraid I might get into a fight with him too after what he did to you. And I once caught Kai giving looks to Ann…so…"

Idiot…just leave!! Discuss about your love problems later, help you friend with his love problems now!

"Boy am I hungry…can you help me Claire?" I asked loudly to drown out Cliff's mutters.

"Don't worry Claire, I can do it for you. You can go back to eating your dinner." What the fudge?? Cliff feeding me porridge? What is this? A gay love story? I want Claire, not you, Cliff!! Immediately, when Cliff turned back to face me, I gave him the most rotten and bad-ass looking stare I could muster. I was metaphorically screaming at him '_If you feed me, I'll bite your freakin' hands off, so go home!!!_' He should have gotten the hint since he shuddered slightly before turning back to Claire. "Uhh….Y-You know what, Claire? I think I have some….ummm….things I got to do at the inn…Yeah…I have to go help…Doug. So I'll come back later…?" I gave him another stare. "Or not…I'll see you when I see you Gray. Bye Claire." With that, Cliff walked out and into the night. Finally, peace and quiet.

"Well he left in a rush…" Claire muttered as she came back to sit beside me. "Now where we're we? Oh that's right. Choooo-choooo!! Chuga-chuga-chuga-chuga!! Choo-choooo!!" She started again with the train imitations and immature...yet cute…actions. I'm starting to have doubts about how I even came to love her……eh…what do I care? I love her and that's all I care about.

"Claire?" I called, interrupting her mimicking. "I'm sorry about ruining your day today. And I'm sorry about that ki-"

"Don't worry about it Gray. It's Karen who's to blame, plus…it's not like that was our first kiss. I didn't mind. Heck…if you kiss me again right now, I probably wouldn't really mind or care." Claire smiled, reaching over to stretch my cheeks into a smile. "Tomorrow, if you're feeling better, it's payback time for Karen's _clumsiness._ So get ready." With that, she cracked her knuckles and fed me another bite.

* * *

Was the fighting scene okay?? I hope it wasn't too bad. Well...if you liked it please give me a review. Hehehehehe, please? ;)


	16. Chapter 15

A/N: I don't really have anything to say, just that this is kind of a shitty chapter (in my opinion) and that I hate the chapter. I'm sorry for taking a very long time to update, but boredom has consumed me completely, and I got several visits from writer's block, so it'll take me time to update these days. Sorry in advance.

Disclaimer: I dreamt of owning Harvest Moon once, but then reality gave me a good slap on the head.

* * *

Chapter 15

As the chickens crowed early in the morning, the sun rose into the navy blue sky, bringing along the light to brighten the day. Claire silently stirred from her uncomfortable position on the chair next to her bed when someone knocked on her door. The annoyed and drowsy farmer complained under her breath as she dragged her legs towards the door to see who it was. It wasn't surprising when she saw her boyfriend, Kai, standing in the doorway with a small duffle bag slung to his back, ready to travel.

"Kai…do you want to come in?" She quietly asked, careful not to wake the other person in her house. Kai shook his head and gave her a weak smile before bending down to kiss her cheek.

"I'll have to go to catch my boat in a few minutes. I'd just like to say that I'm sorry about yesterday, I was wrong and I knew it. Please forgive me, Claire." He apologized, his face twisted in unease and worry that the woman in front of him would not accept his apology.

"It's Gray who you should apologize…no…you two should be the one apologizing to each other. I accept your apology and since we don't know when Gray will be up, I'm sure he accepts your apology as well. And he's sorry for yesterday too." She explained, smiling up to Kai to make him for relieved.

"Thanks Claire, I feel a whole lot better now." He bent down again to gather the small porcelain body into his arms, decorating her face with small kisses. "I love you." He whispered into her ear, waiting for her response.

"I…love you too." He didn't take notice of her brief hesitation as he waved goodbye and walked towards the town.

xxx

'_Tomorrow, if you're feeling better, it's payback time for Karen's clumsiness. So get ready.' With that, she cracked her knuckles and fed Gray another bite…oblivious to his staring. After dinner was done, Claire got up to wash the dishes, leaving Gray on the bed. At that time, he was staring at her with loving eyes, thinking about what she has just said a few minutes ago._

'…_**it's not like that was our first kiss. I didn't mind. Heck…if you kiss me again right now, I probably wouldn't really mind or care.'**_

_It kept the love-struck blacksmith thinking whether he should just leave her. If it was futile for him to continue on loving her even if she didn't show any signs of her loving him back. Not once has she showed signs more than friendly affections. It has only been him and yet, she doesn't notice a single hint. What if her whole heart has already been given to Kai? What should he do now? Should he give her the divorce that she wanted, or should he listen to what Carter had said that day at the church? _

_His thoughts were interrupted when Claire came back to sit next to him in her chair with two cups of hot milk in her tiny hands. She handed one glass to him with a smile, a smile he loved ever since the first day he saw her. He smiled back as he received the cup and blew on it. Without any warning, Claire gave out a surprise shriek as the hot milk burnt her tongue. _

'_Really, Claire…you should learn to blow on it first before drinking it.' He chuckled as he took the cup away from her frantic hands to put it on the bed stand. She was complaining in a language he didn't understand as she talked with her tongue sticking out. Gray got out of bed and walked over to the refrigerator, taking out an ice cube and handing it Claire. As the ice helped cool off her burnt tongue, she smiled again, looking up to her friend._

'_What would I have done without you, Gray?' She asked, reaching out to ruffle his bright orange hair. His face turned a little solemn as he listened to her words, words that were stringing him back down to her again. _

'Claire…do you know how much your words are affecting me?' _He thought. As his thoughts wandered farther off into outer space, he was dragged back into reality when Claire pulled him out of bed with a grin on her face. _

'_I realized that…we never really finished that dance at the festival.' She giggled playfully, her hands gradually wrapping themselves at Gray's neck. _

'_With no music?' He asked back, his face reddening a bit while his hand went to her waist and another took her other hand. _

"_Improvise then. 1-2-3." And they started dancing, each didn't really know how to move without the music but they didn't really care. Even if Gray's heart was heavy with depression, he didn't want to miss this. They twirled and giggled when one of them accidentally step on each other's foot. They had both escaped into the land of dreams and happiness for that moment, the moment was perfect and both felt complete in each other's arms. As Claire's words about kissing passed through Gray's head again, he could not help himself anymore._

"_Claire…could you close your eyes for a moment?" He asked quietly, if he was going to be sure about divorcing with Claire, there was one thing he wanted to make sure of. Claire's feelings towards himself. _

_She obediently did what was asked of her, she closed her eyes and a smile tugged her lips, suspicious with what he was going to do. Gray's eyes wandered down to her lips, those pink rosy lips that he briefly tasted before in the past, those lips that once murmured the words 'I love you' to him twice. His breath hiked when he closed his eyes and bended down closer, by the time he was a few inches away from her face, his heart was thumping as if they would explode into a million pieces. _

_As his lips met hers, it surprised the blonde farmer for a while before she slowly lost all thought and kissed him right back. Their lips molded and melted into each other, her hand traveling up to grasp his exposed hair while his was still holding onto her waist, forbidding her to fall down. Claire shuddered a bit from excitement and pleasure, a feeling that everything in her life was complete passed through them. They had to break it up before they ran out of breath, panting a bit when their lips left each other. For the blacksmith, it was now certain that he wasn't going to be leaving her anytime soon, he loved her too much and from how she kissed him back, she must have felt something for him too. _

xxx

She sighed at the thought of last night's events, her hand unintentionally traveling up to touch her lips. She blushed at the thought and her heart fluttered out of control thinking about him, who was just a few meters away from her in her house. She lingered outside a bit longer, exposing herself to the cool spring weather as she relaxed. Did she enjoy the kiss they both shared last night? Yes, she did, very much as a matter of fact. Did she regret it at all? Truthfully, she didn't…and that made her even sadder. Was it wrong for her to feel this way? To feel that she wanted him and needed him in her life? To feel that if he ever left her, she would crumble into dust and be swept away with the wind? To feel anger and jealousy when Gray's with another woman? Thoughts started to fill her head as she looked down on the wedding ring on her finger. It shone brightly in the golden sun, reflecting the light off with its glimmering steel-self.

She was overwhelmed with confusion, puzzled with her feelings, she didn't dare tell Gray how she felt, nor did she have any intention to do so.

"Mama…why can't you be here right now? What should I do…" As she looked up into the sky, imagining that somewhere up there, her mother was looking down at her, glistening tears started to trickle down her turquoise eyes. It wasn't long before they stop when Gray's voice came from the back of her.

"You know…you never really mentioned your family to me. I told you about mine…" He smiled teasingly, but her response wasn't what he thought it would be.

"Because it's none of your business." She replied quietly, pushing Gray away in order to walk through the door. He frowned but didn't say anything, he only followed her into the house.

"So…" He tried starting another conversation, "It's almost your birthday already, in only…5 days from now. Spring 14th right?" He scratched his head nervously, after what happened between them last night, there was still a hint of awkwardness in the air.

"Ah. It is."

Scratch that, there's a gallon of awkwardness in the air. Nobody spoke anything, complete silence took over the two bodies as time passed. It seemed as if neither of them could think of anything to say as they stood there, Gray looking at her and Claire cooking robotically in the small kitchen space.

'_Dammit!! Why is my heart beating like this?? I'm going to go crazy before the end of the day if he continues to stare at me like that._' She thought, her knife dicing the potato in a speed that people couldn't see through. She was sweating heavily, from just feeling that Gray was at the back of her, while her other hand was shaking a bit as she grasped onto the counter.

Being lost in her own thoughts caused her to be careless, she didn't notice that she had finished chopping the potatoes already and she was now chopping the counter. It was coming closer to her other hand with every chopping action she made. Gray noticed that and was about to warn her when…

_Chop._

"Claire!!!" He roared as he quickly strode to stand next to her. She didn't notice that she cut her own finger when she felt the oozing liquid on her finger tips and the body heat radiating from Gray's body. Gray picked her small delicate hand to see if the cut was deep, exhaling a relieved sigh when it seemed to be only in need of a bandage.

As she noticed Gray standing in her personal bubble, her first reaction was to push him away.

"Claire?" He asked, confused.

"D…Don't…Don't touch me." She blurted out unknowingly, holding her hand in a protective stance.

"…" He stayed quiet, shock and sadness swirling in his cobalt eyes. He took a small step closer but was immediately shouted at.

"Don't come near me!" She yelled, her heart beating hard as she ran outside and up to the town. She was panting hard as she ran, she herself was confused at her actions. '_What did I just do? I yelled at Gray…? Fudge……he must hate me now…_' The thought itself forced her tears to trickle down from her eyes once more as she skidded to a stop in front of the clinic.

"Claire? What are you doing here so early in the morning?" Elli asked as she have just came out from her house. She noticed a little amount of blood seeping through her hand and rushed to her aid. "Claire, you're bleeding! Come inside, quick." She instructed, wrapping her arms around the bleeding farmer to guide her into the clinic.

"Doctor?" Elli called, looking around the room to find the stoic, emotionless Doctor. She received a yawn from upstairs as a reply, he approached the both of them drowsily, his jet black hair in a messy posture, and there were bags under his eyes. "Have you been reading all night again?" She asked, a tint of strictness in her tone.

"A bit…but never mind that…-yawn- Hello Claire, what can I do for you today?" He asked, rubbing his eyes to get a better view at the two ladies.

"I had a knife accident…" She murmured and followed the Doctor into his 'office'.

"You seem to be coming to the clinic more lately, Claire." He chuckled, tending the small wound on her finger with such ease. She pouted, her eyes looking on her finger.

"It seems so, I guess it's just my bad luck." She shrugged, maybe she should stop using knives for awhile since she came close to chopping off her finger two times already. '_But the last time I didn't come here right? Why was that again?_' She thought, curious to why she didn't come see the Doctor last time she had a knife accident.

xxx

_Chop!_

"_ARGHHHHHH!!! BLOODY HECK!! MOTHER FUDGER!!" She screamed in agony as she accidentally cut her own finger. Gray's eyes widen in shock and panic, he took hold of Claire's knife and threw it into the sink before pulling her finger and putting it into his mouth. As she felt Gray sucking the blood from her injured finger, she couldn't stop herself from blushing furiously, her face turning into a crimson shade of red and burning heatedly. She squeezed her eyes shut, waiting for him to be done. She felt a tingly, yet comforting sensation passed through her in the process._

"_You okay?" He asked as his lips parted from her finger, "Your face is all red, are you hurt? Want to go to the clinic?" She shook her head and took a step back from him. Her heart was beating in a abnormal rhythm, which was very weird for her since her heart never really beat so hard when she's with Gray. She was also having a hard time looking at her friend straight in the face when replying him. Her face instantly fell to face the floor and a bare breath escaped her lips, "I…I'm fine." _

"_Guess you're fine now. So….since you hurt your finger….can I cook?"_

xxx

Claire's face instantly reddened at the memory, her face heating up, and it was noticed by the Doctor.

"Claire? Are you okay?" He asked as his hand went to her forehead. "You're a little warmer than usual, do you feel sick?" His brows furrowing as he removed his hand. The little farmer instantly shook her head, shaking away the thoughts of her last knife incident.

"I'm fine…umm…do you mind hurrying up Doctor? I have work to do…"

The Doctor right away started to tend the small wound, Elli staying not too far. When they were all done, Claire simply said her goodbyes, paid the bill, and left without another word. The thought of going back home and maybe seeing Gray again was not exactly inviting after what she just said and did to him. Instead, she decided to concentrate on only where the colored grass grow and finishing her farm work for the day.

--

As she stared at the wooden door of her house, she wondered when it turned so huge. She felt like a small child looking at the entrance that led to her punishment. Surely Gray was already inside since it was past his working hours already, even if he went to visit Mary at the library, he would have arrived here sooner than her. It was nearly 7pm when she finished watering all her plants and took care of her animals, not to mention take her horse out on a ride to stretch its legs and help it train for the festival. She stood still, whimpering at the possible outcomes if she walked through that door. She didn't come to any decision until the door suddenly swung open with a tired, sweating Gray in Claire's apron, holding a tasting spoon.

"What are you doing out here? You want to freeze to death? I'm almost done with dinner so get your butt in here." He ordered, dragging the confused Claire into the house.

He immediately went back to the miso soup on the stove, leaving Claire alone speechless at the doorway. Her eyes were sweeping across the floors and walls of her house, the bed was neatly done and her floor was clean, she could see her own reflection on the wood. There was no trace of dust or dirt on the floor and her table was nicely set up with candles and plates for two. Her dog, Catfish was washed and combed, she noticed, as it came running up to her from its usual sleeping place. She hasn't seen her house in a neat state for a long time already and it shocked her to see it so abruptly.

"You should take your shoes off, I just cleaned the floor awhile ago." He yelled to her from the kitchen. He tasted the soup and almost spilt it onto the floor when Claire came crashing onto his back and was hitting him relentlessly with her tiny fists.

"Why are you doing all of this Gray?" She asked as she continued to hit his back. "Why are you cooking? Why did you clean my house? Why are you still so kind to me when you should be mad?" She was on the verge of whacking him with a pan if he didn't answer her questions.

"Weren't you mad at me?" He asked, without turning back to look at her as he continued stirring the brown concoction in the steel pot. She stopped instantly, her big blue orbs looking up at him.

"What?" She asked.

"Aren't you mad at me a while ago? I thought you were mad at me for what I did yesterday, I shouldn't have done it, I'm sorry. I don't know what I should do for you to forgive me, Claire, this is all I can do right now. Please forgive me." He finally turned around with a sad smile ghosted on his lips.

Thousands of thoughts slammed into her head as she took in his words. _He thought I was mad at him? 'He's supposed to be mad at me…I should be the one that's asking for his forgiveness, but he's the one that's doing all these nice things for me just to earn my forgiveness…why is my heart pounding uncontrollably again just by standing near him…why do I feel the sudden urge to hold him…why do I want to kiss him again…what's going on with me?' _

"Claire? Will you forgive me?" He asked again, more quietly this time. He saw her give him a small nod and that made him smile. "Thanks. Now go relax there." He gave her a light push as he turned back to cooking. It was the least he can do for living with her under her roof. And perhaps if they get married……the sudden thought made him blush as he thought of marrying Claire.

She sat on the dining chair, her head and mind still confused at her thoughts. By the time she came back to reality, Gray was sitting across from her and in front of them were a bowl of miso soup. He gave her a grin and shrugged his eyebrows at her, daring her to take a sip at the concoction he made.

"Go on, try it. It'll blow you mind, it's _legendary._" He emphasized on the last word, chuckling as Claire's nose wrinkled.

She looked down at her food, wincing as she saw a small fish head bob up and down in the watery substance. Somehow, it seems to her that Gray loves to put fish in all sorts of stuff. But then her good conscience reminded her that he made this for her to earn her forgiveness and she should be a good girl and eat it to make him happy.

Her hand shakily approached the brown liquid, spilling a few drops along the way as it approached her slightly parted lips. She spared a glance back at Gray for one last time, amused at how wide his smile was as he watched her. Okay, she did not dare ruin his happy moment anymore. Building up the courage, she took the spoon into her mouth and swallowed the liquid instantly, closing her eyes to savor it.

"It's good." Were the first two words that left her lips when she opened her eyes again, surprised by the pleasant flavor of Gray's cooking. He immediately heaved a sigh of relief, his hand over his heart and patting it. "It's really good, Gray. I'm surprised it didn't kill me." She teased him, taking another sip.

"Great, see? I can cook, I bet that last dish that I cooked before with Cliff was good too." He smiled proudly, reminiscing about the savory pancake he and his buddy made for her when she was (barely) injured.

"I doubt that." She groaned, just the picture of his last creation sent a shiver down her spine. If any human being was able to eat that, that person must not have taste buds or he/she had an iron stomach.

They spent the next 2 hours on the dining table, savoring the taste of Gray's cooking and the enjoying moments of the night. By the time they finished arguing about who gets to do the dishes (they ended up doing it together), Claire left the house to go take a bath in the hot springs while he quickly skinny dips in the lake.

It was 11 when they retired for the day, Gray was lying on the floor with his blanket and pillow while Claire was on her bed. Silence devoured the whole house, both only hearing Catfish's snores. Claire was still awake when it was 11:30, she couldn't sleep, she felt as if there was something heavy on her chest, something she needs to do. She lied on her side and looked down on Gray's peaceful face. His orange hair sprawled all over the pillow as if hugging it. His hand was placed over his head and the other on his stomach, while one of his legs was appearing from beneath the think woolen blankets. She gave a small giggle at his sleeping posture and smiled.

"I'm sorry Gray for how I was acting towards you today in the morning. I hope you forgive me…what's that? You forgive me? That makes me feel a lot better already. You know something, Gray? You shouldn't have done all of this, you really shouldn't…the kiss yesterday, and what you prepared for me today…you really shouldn't have done it all…it's making me confused about my feelings for you…it's good that you're asleep, if you weren't, I'll kill you personally for listening to me express my thoughts about you to you. Well, I feel a bit better. Actually, I feel A LOT better now, thanks for not listening, Gray. Night." She smiled and closed her eyes, feeling sleep overcome her senses.

It didn't take long before she was asleep, slightly drooling on her pillow. Gray opened his eyes and looked at her, he smiled widely at her before slowly closing his eyes again.

"Thank _you _Claire. I'll fight for you, so be prepared." He murmured, he was positive now that he's going to fight for her and he'll never let her go. Never.

* * *

I have nothing to say...


	17. Chapter 16

Disclaimer: I dont own Harvest Moon.

* * *

Chapter 16

"Come in Lieutenant Sucky Hat, do you read me? Over." Claire whispered into the small plastic cup that was connected to another plastic cup by a long string. And guess who was in possession of the other 'walkie-talkie'?

"Yeah, I read you." Gray muttered back as quietly. He was starting to regret joining Claire's plan for revenge. Whatever she ate yesterday must have been filled with sugar to the brim since the plan she came up with was so immature.

They were both currently hiding behind the bushes across from each other on the side of the road adjacent to the super market. Claire was crouched behind the bench that Karen sits on in the morning while Gray was hidden in the bushes across the road. It was 6 am exactly and Karen has yet to make an appearance.

The plan was to wait till Karen comes out of her house, and then trip her with the string that attaches to the cups in Claire and Gray's hand. It would cause her to fall flat on her face and get some bruises, making it imperfect for her wedding day, which was a few days away. After that, Claire was going to jump out and place a worm that she captured from her farm and place it inside Karen's shirt. Then lastly, they were going to run away as fast as they could, so fast that hell hounds can't even catch them so that no one would know what they did. It was the perfect plan…(not).

"Lieutenant. You forgot to say 'over'. Over." She hissed into the cup. Gray rolled his eyes and sighed. '_Why did I get dragged into this? Oh right, because I love her and would do anything for her.' _He thought silently, replying back into the cup.

"Why can't we go home?...Over." '_This is so embarrassing…' _He could picture himself being laughed at if someone caught him doing this. He felt like a 5 year old playing 'Spy' with his crush.

"Shut up. She should be coming out any moment. Over." Her head peaked out from behind the tree to look at the door for hints of the slightest movement of it opening.

"I think I see her coming. Over." He reported as he saw Karen approaching the door through the window. Unfortunately, the news didn't get through to Claire who was busy looking at the door. Oblivious to Karen walking out of the door to see her behind her favorite sitting spot.

"Um. What are you doing there, Claire?" She asked, narrowing her eyes as she stared the petite blond farmer. Claire's eyes widened and looked over at Gray, mouthing the words '_Why didn't you tell me she's coming out?' _

"Who are you talking to?" She eyed her arch enemy confusedly as she watched Claire talk to thin air and throwing dirty glances at the bush behind her.

Alas, Claire's plan didn't work as well as she thought it would, time to move to plan B.

"Run Sucky Hat, run!!" She yelled, pouncing out of her hiding spot and crashing into Karen, who was too surprised to move away. Gray did as he was told, jumping out of his hiding place and waited for Claire. Claire was grinning evilly as she threw the worm in her hand and stuffed it into Karen's hair. Karen was screaming her lungs out as she felt the small insect squirming in her hair. "Fudge you, Karen." Claire stuck out her tongue at Karen one last time before being dragged away by Gray.

"Great, great. Now let's go!!" Gray laughed, pulling Claire with him as they both ran away down the road to Doug's place. They were both laughing their lungs out as they held on to each other's hand and ran. They rampaged through the door to the inn, closing it behind them and continued running up the stairs and into the Gray's old room. They slammed the door closed behind them, surprising Cliff who was currently sleeping. He shot up into a sitting position as fast as a bullet, his eyes sweeping through the room to see what woke him up.

"Hell…what are you two doing here?" He gasped out, staring at the two giggling adults who were leaning on the door. The only answer he received at the time being were only a set of giggles, that was enough to decipher that they were up to something bad…or they already did it. "Well…whatever you two did, don't pull me into it." He muttered before getting up to change.

* * *

"Well that was fun." Claire chuckled again as she and Gray walked home from the inn. The picture of Karen snarling and screaming like a complete maniac on the streets was still etched in her head as an evil grin manifested on her face. '_That's what she gets for last time…although, I didn't regret kissing-_…._NO!! What am I thinking?? Shut up_,_ Claire!!_' She thought, her face reddening and her hands shooting up to give herself a few slaps on the face.

"…_Well_. I'm not going question your actions, I don't really wanna know what you were slapping yourself for." He said, giving her a weird stare before staring back at the road.

A sudden idea then hit him as they continued walking. He looked over at Claire's petite body walking next to him, she was oblivious to Gray's stare. He coughed into his hand to get her attention, it took him two to three more dry coughs until she looked up to him.

"You know, you _could _just use my name."

"Next time……Hey Claire, you're happy about what you did to Karen right?" The sudden, out-of-the-blue question Gray asked earned him a confused look from the farmer.

"Heck yeah. Oh don't tell me you feel guilty about what we did to that female dog." Claire moaned, giving him a 'are you for real' look. Gray immediately shook his head, if Claire's happy, he is too. "Oh good, then what is it you want?"

"Well…I was kinda thinking…let's…-brate….night….-gether." He mumbled throughout the ending of the sentence, making it hard to decipher.

"….What?" Claire finally asked after a moment of silence when she tried to make out his mumblings.

Gray breathed in and breathed out, calming himself for what he was about to say.

"Let's go celebrate at Doug's tonight…together." He blushed, looking away to hide his face. Claire was still blinking at the sudden invitation, but after awhile a smile broke across her face.

"Sounds good, I didn't have anything to do tonight anyway."

"It's a date!" Gray blurted out, his aqua eyes widening into the size of golf balls and his cheeks turning into the color of strawberries when he noticed what he just said. He was continuously hitting himself in the face mentally, if what he said broke their relationship, he's going to kill himself. Or maybe try very hard to get Claire back, the latter option sounds better…

"It's a date." Claire answered back meekly, waving to him as she continued to her house, leaving Gray at the front of his grandfather's shop. Gray stood at the exact spot, motionless as he processed the three words that Claire said. It seemed as if the words rang in his head endlessly. As visions of the perfect evening flashed through his mind. In one second, Gray started to realize the possible outcomes of this date due to the way he always treated her throughout the years. This was going to be his first date with Claire, and in more ways than one was he able to screw his chances with her. Their relationship had always been strictly platonic and now that there was even a slight possibility of changing the way they feel about each other, Gray was determined to make the evening a success.

"I need a plan." Were the first words that seeped through his lips before he dashed off back to the inn to see Cliff, ignoring his grandpa's yelling in the background.

--

"I still can't figure out why you would come to me for help about these things, Gray." Cliff moaned as he continued to taste the wine on Duke's orders. His face was turning a bit reddish after countless sips.

"You're the only friend I can go to right now, who do you suppose I go to? Rick? Doctor? I don't think they'll be able to help me much." Gray muttered, resting his head in his hand. Cliff rolled his eyes.

"And you think I'll be any help…I never really even dated." Cliff groaned, refraining himself from feeling a bit jealous, he who has never dated is supposed to be giving dating advice to another man who should have dated before?

"Well anything would do, I mean c'mon Cliff, you've got a sister right? What does _she _like?" Gray pleaded. At this moment, Gray was desperate to get any kind of advice. If someone told him that girls liked watching sports and drinking beer, he would've ate it up instantly.

"She likes unicorns and rainbows…" Cliff muttered monotonously, still miffed about the whole 'I never dated but I'm giving advice' thing.

"Seriously Cliff! What the hell?" Gray exclaimed, frowning at his best bud.

"She's 8, man! But really Gray…I don't know what you're so worried about. I honestly think that you two get along just fine…even in the beginning when you guys just met. Why don't you just be yourself?" He sighed, scratching his head with boredom before drinking all the wine in his glass.

"Be yourself…Well _thanks_ Cliff, if I wanted to hear that don't you think I might as well have gone to Carter since he's always coming up with new weird motivational speeches?" The red-headed blacksmith hyperventilated, his eyebrows tight in a frown, his lips twisted in frustration, and his face red with annoyance.

"Calm down Gray! You're blabbering now! I guess I can _try_ to help you plan…although if she ends up not liking the date, you _cannot_ blame it on me…" He muttered, narrowing his eyes to stare at his friend with a serious glare. He would not take it if he would later be yelled at for his crappy dating advice.

"…Thanks man…"

* * *

"Ahhhhhhhhhh!! What did I do?? What the heck is wrong with me??!! Why did I even SAY that in the first place??" Claire moaned, ruffling her hair in frustration as she realized that she has just agreed to go on a date with Gray. It wasn't a bad thing at first, in fact, she was ecstatic about it even, until she remembered that she has a boyfriend.

"I can't go!! What kind of human being am I if I cheat on my boyfriend?? No no no no no no no no no, I won't be able to show my face ever again when Kai sees me. Heck, I won't be able to face Gray! He'll probably think of me as some disgusting pig that loves men!! Oh---this is bad, this is very bad…." Claire continued on like that for some time. Occasionally she would try to tell herself that it was okay to go with Gray, that it was just hanging out with him, but then she would degrade herself as 'trash' again all over.

"I should just forget about it…if I don't go, sooner or later Gray will probably ignore my disappearance and forget about it too. We're friends anyway. That's right…we're friends…best friends…he wouldn't think about it any other way…and neither should I…" She muttered, her voice becoming more inaudible at the end of her sentence. She straightened her hair back to its old self and walked outside to do her work for the rest of the day.

* * *

"Face it Gray!! She's not coming, so hurry up and come in here. You'll get sick!!" Ann cried out as she watch Gray stand outside in the rain waiting for Claire. It has been raining for 2 hours already and in those two hours, Gray has been enduring the cold and the rain outside of the inn. "Damn Spring and its rainy weather." Ann muttered.

"She'll come…she's probably finishing her work. I'll wait for a while longer, go back inside Ann, it's raining out here." Gray instructed, looking back at the street, looking for any sign of Claire.

"You should tell yourself that. How would you know that she's coming? Maybe she forgot Gray, just come wait in here." She tried again to persuade him, Gray lingered for awhile more before letting out a sigh and turning back to enter the inn. Cliff walked up and threw his friend a towel before patting his back.

"Sorry man, she probably forgot."

Even if they were saying that Claire forgot about the date, it still seemed unbelievable to their ears that Claire would forget about it. They know her, she's a person who follows her promises and does everything that she says she would.

The blacksmith walked over to a chair and almost collapsed onto it instantly. He has been standing in the rain for hours, the cold biting rain has drenched him and he was tired.

"Yeah…she probably forgot…" Gray muttered before falling asleep on the table.

After being sure that Gray was knocked out, Ann and Cliff had their own little discussion.

"I can't believe Claire would stand Gray up!" Ann exclaimed, sure she was friends with the farmer, but it was just infuriating. "She better have a reason as to why she did what she's doing right now." She huffed, crossing her arms and leaning on the counter.

"She probably does." Cliff sighed, looking at the door for any sign of someone coming in.

"And I thought that this date would be the step that helps those two become more than friends. I always thought that they looked perfect for each other. By the way, Cliff, you remember the Goddess festival? You remember when Kai and Claire were dancing together?"

"Yeah…what about it?"

"Did it seem to you that there was more to them than just friends? I don't know, but it seems as if they were really close to each other." Ann muttered, scratching her head at the memory.

"Yeah it does…but Kai does tend to be close to women…so maybe it doesn't mean anything." Cliff suggested the idea.

"True. Ah well, guess it was nothing." Ann muttered, all the while remaining uncertain.

* * *

As Claire sighed for what felt like the hundredth time, she again glanced at the large grandfather clock that stood against her wall. It was already 8 o'clock and Gray was not home yet, she figured that Gray would get bored of waiting and return home since she was already 2 hours late for their 'date'. Again, turning her head to look at the needles on the clock's face, she sighed once more before dropping her head into her arms on the dining table.

"Maybe Gray's really angry at me for standing him up…" Claire muttered, her words muffled, "But he knows that I have a boyfriend, he shouldn't expect anything from me! He brought this on himself!" she continued, trying to justify her unacceptable actions. She knew that she made him a promise, yet she was unable to uphold and it was torturing her to feel this much guilt. Even while she tried to distract herself by working, every muscle in her body was trying to pull her away towards the inn where Gray was at. Claire knew this well, remembering it, she shook her head, as if the mere act would erase that memory.

'_Okay, enough time has passed, I should go ask him to come home…_' She instantly stood up, knocking back her chair and quickly strode out of the house. The minute the door swung open, she was greeted with sheets of rain pouring down from the sky.

'_Great, it's raining…_' Grabbing a rain coat, she stepped into the rain while tugging down a hat and headed towards Doug's inn.

* * *

On rainy days, service is always bad at the inn. Most Mineral towners could not be bothered to leave the convenience of their warm homes, except for Duke (or what Ann and Doug secretly call, 'the town drunk') who was already flushed from his usual high levels of alcohol consumption. Other than him, there was only Gray's body, slumped on one of the tables.

"Dad, we should really have Cliff help take Gray upstairs into one of the beds…" Ann complained while refilling Duke's almost empty glass with water.

"No, like I said Ann, this is between Gray and Claire. Married couples should solve problems by themselves!"

"But Dad-" Ann whined but was interrupted when the door slammed hard at the entrance.

Both Ann and Doug instantly turned towards the newcomer, squinting their eyes in concentration to identify the person cloaked under the dripping coat and hat. The drenched figure removed her hat and shook her blonde hair casually while her eyes roved around the room trying to look for Gray. Immediately, Doug's red headed daughter became furious at the sight of Claire. Although the two girls are friends, the fact that generally any person was put through such an ordeal of being stood up was enough to infuriate her. Doug always taught Ann right from wrong and now was the time that Ann knew that Claire was wrong.

"Claire!! How could you?!" Ann cried; loud enough to make Duke fall off his chair from surprise. "How could you stand Gray up like that? Did you know how long he waited for you??" She grabbed her friend's small shoulders and shook her hard, hard enough to make Claire dizzy.

Immediately an overpowering feeling of guilt washed over the blonde farmer and she meekly looked down at her feet.

"I'm sorry…I know I shouldn't have and if it makes you feel any better, it's really killing me Ann…" Claire looked away with guilt and sadness wallowing in her eyes. Ann's face softened slightly as she sighed tiredly and let go of Claire.

"It's not making _me_ feel better…I am your friend Claire, but really…I thought you were better than this! Don't you know how Gray feels about you?" Ann turned away, her face and eyes obviously revealing hints of disappointment in her friend.

Doug harrumphed from behind the bar to grab his daughter's attention. When Ann looked towards her father, he gently shook his head, reminding her to let the two sort things out by themselves as man and wife. Ann realizing that her father was right, immediately turned back towards Claire, hoping that she didn't say too much but luckily, Claire was not even listening to her. She had already spotted Gray slumped over a table and she was standing over him, stroking his matted hair.

"I'll be back…please Doug, Ann, if he wakes up tell him that I will be back." Once Claire finished her sentence, she pulled her hat back onto her head and ran out the door and into the rain once again. Twenty minutes later, Claire returned, this time with two blankets in hand, an extra raincoat, and another hat. She wrapped Gray in two layers of blankets, covered him with the raincoat and topped him off with her hat. This was one of the rare days where he actually did not wear his UMA hat. Claire softly chuckled, remembering how much the sight of his tacky cap annoyed her before.

'_He must've taken it off today to please me'_ She thought, slightly blushing at his small notion.

"Doug, can you help me get Gray outside please?" Claire asked after finish dressing Gray up.

"What?? In this weather?" Doug exclaimed, looking back outside to see if the weather cleared up. It didn't, which confused Doug even more to why Claire would want to take Gray back into the rain.

"I brought my horse, Steed…but we should be quick, he doesn't like to wait in the rain…" Claire winced, the last time she made him wait in the rain, he took off unexpectedly.

Doug called for Cliff upstairs to help him carry Gray outside onto Claire's horse and Claire sat behind Gray on Steed. She made her way back to the farm as fast as possible to get Gray into her warm house and comfortable in her bed. It's the least she could do tonight for standing him up like she did. In the 10 minutes it took for Gray and her to reach the farm, Ann's words echoed in her mind.

Before she left the inn, Ann pulled her aside to inform her that Gray waited for her in the rain for 2 hours before finally giving in and collapsing on a table, adding a bigger load of guilt onto Claire's conscience.

After struggling for what seemed like hours to put Gray's huge body into Claire's warm house, she continued to take Steed back into his stable, then returned through the doors of her residence. She turned to look at Gray, whom she left slumped next to her bed, with remorseful eyes and started taking off the excess wet articles of clothes that she put on him earlier then pulled him onto her bed. She placed a hand on his forehead and immediately withdrew her hand. In such a short period of time, he had already gained a fever yet she saw that he was shivering. Claire went to get him a wet towel and draped it on his forehead then climbed into her large bed next to him and wrapped her small arms around him. Of course she was unable to envelop her arms completely around Gray's large frame but the minute their skin had come in contact, the sound of quivering teeth stopped.

"I'm sorry Gray…" she breathed before descending into the dark unconscious.

* * *

A/N: Howdy folks. Thought I wouldnt have a Author's Note this time did ya? Wrong! I'd just like to have a few words with the ppl reading this, just a few words. Promise!

Well, first of all, I'd just like to thank you all who took the time to review my last chapter, I thought it was a shitty chapter but your words helped me regain some confidence in my writing. So I woud like to say thank you to...

**ChaosMorning**

**Kitty go moo**

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...for taking the time to review it. But I also want to say thank you everyone who ever reviewed my story, I really appreciate it all and I'm sorry for not putting your name up. Perhaps I'll start doing it for next chapter. And again, **THANK YOU!!!!**

Also, I'm sorry for taking so long to update my story these days. It's not that I don't have time, I have plenty of time since school ended, but it's because I'm never in the mood to write. I know it's a very sucky excuse, but it's true. And another reason is because Mr. Writer's Block decided to visit me occasionally, so blame him and his stupid germs!!

See? I didn't write so much now did I? It's mostly space so that doesn't count. :) So........anyway..........how about clicking that green button at the bottom? You know you want to, it's very tempting, I know. :O Pretend that my life depends on it!! If you don't click it, I would die and no more 'Hello My Darling' for you!! Please click it. :D


	18. Chapter 17

Disclaimer: I don't own Harvest Moon.

* * *

Chapter 17

"C'mon…please talk to me…" I begged, shaking the 'corpse' next to me. Well, I should be able to call him that after watching lie still for an hour, give or take, without budging. Or talking. Or breathing. Okay, I made the last one up, but he wasn't responding in any way to my calling. "I know you're not asleep." I paused, coughing loudly, even when I closed my mouth with my back hand.

Yes, I was sick, and guess who I got that from. Woke up with a runny nose and everything. I could barely sit up if it weren't for Ann, who came to visit, bless her. After treating us, well, me mostly since a certain somebody won't move, she agreed to help me with my farm work. She did it amazingly fast though, it took me about an hour before I finish my farming duties everyday, but she finished in 30 minutes. She left after that, saying how she skipped her daily trip with Popuri.

I coughed some more and had to pull the blanket up to wipe my runny nose, I know, it's disgusting, but I can't reach for the Kleenex. Sue me.

"Gray-y-y-y-y-y-y. Please say something, you're killing me here." I moaned, flinging my fists onto his back that was faced towards me. He has been quiet ever since I woke up and it didn't take me too long to figure out why. He was angry about last night and how I stood him up, I know that. You think I wouldn't? It's written right across his back saying _I'm mad at you, don't talk to me till you apologize._

But there's no way in heck that I'm going to apologize, I'm not wrong, I did what was right. I have a boyfriend who isn't here right now, and it's the girlfriend's duty to stay loyal to him, so I haven't done anything wrong. If Gray's got this crazy idea of his that it's not wrong for me to go on a date with him since I'm his wife, then he's so wrong. I'm not his wife, even if we're married, I'm never going to be his wife, he's my friend, and I'd like to keep it like that. Forever. Thus, I'm constantly ignoring my thoughts about how sexy his back looks…if he could just pull his shirt up a bit more…NO! Focus, Claire, focus!

"…Oh geez, what is this? Ew, is this booger? Oh great, my nose is runny again, it's like a faucet! Where the heck did Ann put that Kleenex box? Oh Goddess, it's dirtying my shirt. Oh euwie! I used my side of the blanket already…Gray, can I borrow your shirt?" I asked, I noticed a shudder spiked through his spine, but he remained quiet. "Are you really asleep? If you won't talk, I'll take that as a yes." _Silence_. "Okay then, hope you don't mind." I pulled his shirt closer to my face and just when it was about to touch my nose, Gray cried.

"Goddess, stop!! What the hell are you doing, Claire?" He yelled, his voice was a bit raspy from his sore throat and his face flushed from either embarrassment or sickness.

"Ha! Got ya to look!" I beamed as his face distorted into shock that he had been tricked to look at me. He sighed and ruffled his hair, glancing at me, he asked, "What do you want, Claire?"

His stare was so serious, cold, hurt, it was choking me as his blue eyes lingered on mine. It was as if my heart was shredding on it's own as I looked back into his wounded eyes. I was so used to Gray forgiving every little thing I did that it's hard to believe that he could be angry at me like this. I swallowed hard then realized that my mind has automatically erased everything out of shock from Gray's stare, leaving me blank and speechless.

"…Mouse burger…" I murmured quietly, oblivious to what I just said.

"…What?" He gave me a confused look, frowning as if I have turned crazy.

"I mean…uhh…in your porridge? Would you like…that…in your porridge?" I sputtered. Oh Goddess, I _was _crazy. What the heck am I saying? Mouse burger…pft.

"Why would I want a mouse, let alone a mouse burger, in my porridge?!"

"Fish it is then!" I smiled and rolled out of bed, not forgetting to slap myself on the forehead when the refrigerator door hid me from Gray's assessing stare. 'Mouse burger', what the hell is wrong with me?? I started laying out ingredients needed on the counter and took out a knife to start chopping them up. If Gray was going to forgive me, even though I did absolutely nothing wrong, this was going to have to be the best damn porridge ever. Even though porridge should not even be considered a food but it's not like either of us could exactly stomach a T-bone steak with baked corn on the side right now. I snuck a peek at Gray to see if he had stopped trying to bore holes into the side of my head yet and saw him lying on his back on the bed, staring at nothing on the ceiling. Sighing, I turned back to the assorted vegetables and fish and continued cutting them up into pieces. The silence was absolutely deafening, except for the sound of my knife on the cutting board and suddenly a chain of coughs erupted from my mouth. I quickly turned away from the food and coughed into my hand while my free hand was grasping the counter. I had completely forgotten that I too was sick. Immediately, Gray turned towards my crouching body with worried eyes and when I tried to get a better look as to whether he has completely forgotten that he was angry at me a few minutes ago, he turned away again and pouted. As soon as my coughs subsided, Gray finally opened his mouth to talk.

"You shouldn't, cook. You're just as sick as I am."

"I can handle it, besides, who else is there that could cook for us at this moment? Catfish? Because I think he lacks opposable thumbs." I chuckled at my own lame attempt at a joke then started to cough again, which ended up making it more awkward and also proving Gray's point at the same time.

"Whatever, not like you'd listen to what I say anyway." Gray muttered.

The defiant part of me struggled to argue back but the guilty part pushed it down, I'll just let that one slide then. Even though I'm not wrong whatsoever, I'm going to take the higher road because I am a good person! I huffed then finished off with the last of the ingredients that needed cutting and proceeded to put them into a pot and boil them with rice. While waiting for the porridge to be done, the uncomfortable silence returned to the room, Gray wouldn't say anything and neither would I. I was not wrong, so why _should_ I try to make conversation? I stole a glance at Gray and caught him staring at me, again he quickly rolled over to the other side of the bed and coughed to cover up his actions. I shook my head in amusement and couldn't help but smile, even though he was angry at me, I knew he was still concerned. But what's funny is that he is acting like such a schoolgirl, turning away when I realize that he was looking at me. _Oh crap, I feel a sneeze coming._ Turning around in circles, I try to spot a clean tissue around the room. Gray probably realizing this too, started to clear the piles of trash on the bed incase the Kleenex box was hidden underneath. Uncovering the tissue box from a mound of OJ cartons, he threw it at me. I caught it and pulled out a paper napkin right in time for the notorious sneeze. At that moment, I realize that we kind of work well as a team.

"Thanks." I smiled to him, but I might as well smile to my imaginary friend, not that I have one, but Gray was back to staring at the ceiling. Oh how I could just smack that pretty face of his with a frying pan.

"Claire." Him suddenly calling me gave me a shock, I almost dropped the bowl I was holding in my hands. I turned to face him, but he was still facing the ceiling.

"Yes?"

"Do you feel guilt?" He asked, his frozen blue eyes traveling across the room to land at me. I felt myself stiffen, why would he ask me such a thing? Okay, I know why he asked, I know why he's angry, I know why he's cold, I know everything, but I'm choosing to ignore it.

"I don't know what you mean, Gray." I answered, turning away to ladle porridge into the bowl. I could have swear I heard him say 'Of course not.' His cold attitude is starting to piss me off, I haven't done anything wrong, he who's my best friend and _husband _should understand that I love Kai. Any girlfriend would do what I have done. And they probably wouldn't be trying this hard like to me to get their friend to forgive them. No, they would probably turn the other way without even caring, so Gray should be grateful that I care about him.

"Porridge is done." I announced softly, walking over to the dinning table with both bowls in my hands. As I placed them down and walked back to get spoons, I was sure if Gray didn't budge, someone was going to get hurt.

Couldn't say that I was surprised when I turn back to find Gray in front of his porridge bowl, I handed him his spoon and everything went quiet. The only sound that was in the room was Catfish's snoring and the sound of spoons clanking on the ceramic bowl. Both Gray and I didn't say anything, producing a huge amount of awkward silence, it was driving me crazy.

I have opened my mouth numerous of times, not to eat, but to say something just to break the silence. And every time, nothing came out from my chapped lips, so I went back to eating. I kept on stealing glances at Gray, but it didn't look like he was going to do anything till I apologize, couldn't he be a little friendlier? For Goddess sakes.

"You know…it's not my fault that you're angry." I said, still staring at my bowl. I could hear Gray putting his spoon down and wiping his mouth with a Kleenex.

"_Of course not._" His voice was full of sarcasm as he cooed the words at me, "Since when is _anything _your fault, Claire?" His faux smile was even worse than his silence.

"Excuse me? And what do you mean by that, Gray? Pray tell, because I'm dying to know." I placed my spoon next to my bowl and wiped my lips with the back of my hand since Gray was hogging the tissue box. I narrowed my eyes and gave him a deadly stare, he just shook it off and continued.

"You know what I mean, Claire. Would it kill you to just admit that you're wrong?" He sighed tiredly. He really wants to get in a fight doesn't he. Well good, because I'm tired with his attitude, it's time to have a talk with Mr. Arrogant Custard. (Bastard)

"Oh, I'm wrong? I'M WRONG?? Since when am I wrong??!!" I mildly screamed at him, my face flushed with anger, I could feel my knuckles turn white from clenching my fist.

"Since you stood me up without a single word!!" He roared back just as loud, double the anger. He had to turn away to cover his mouth as he let out a thunderous cough. "Since you left me standing in the rain for 2 fucking hours!!"

I couldn't help but blurt out, "Watch you mouth!" when I heard him say 'fuck'. I must be crazy to worry about cuss words at a time like this, but I'm already addicted to innocent swearing.

"Sorry." He spat the word out unpredictably, both Gray and I was surprised, but immediately went back to our fight. "See? I don't have any problem saying sorry at all, why can't you just say it?"

"Because I didn't do anything wrong!! And I have a boyfriend, who I love and he loves me, I can't go on a date with you!" I thought I saw pain and sadness flashed through his eyes before he covered it with pure hatred, either towards me or Kai.

"And I'm your best friend and husband-"

"YOU'RE NOT MY HUSBAND!! I'M NOT YOUR WIFE!! I DON'T WANT TO BE MARRIED, NOT TO YOU!!" I interrupted him, screaming at his face uncontrollably, it just spilled, half the words I said, I didn't even know I said it.

Seeing the pain I caused him made me wish that I could take back the words I just said. Made me wish to turn back the time back to yesterday, I would definitely go on that date if it would prevent us fighting. But of course…time goes in only one direction…time goes forward, never backwards. Gray's head dropped and his hand rose to message his temples. I didn't hear what he said at first until he said it the second time.

"You really hate me that much? Do I disgust you?" He chuckled, but the laughter that I heard was choked. I wanted to say something, but only air came out when I opened my mouth. He chortled lowly before continuing, but I don't think it was directed at me, it was more like he was talking to himself. "I was a _fool _to believe Carter. I should have known that you would never lo…" the rest of his sentence was muffled and I couldn't make out what he was saying. Seeing him torn and lifeless like that was heartbreaking, it was like my heart was in knots, I was suffocating from heartache. Big tear drops were squeezing their way out from my eyes, I just couldn't take it seeing him like this. I needed to end this.

"OKAY! I'M SORRY!" I shouted at the top of my lungs, dropping my head to stare at the floor while my tears leak out. "I don't hate you…I don't hate you at all…" I continued saying that for awhile, Gray had stopped muttering and was looking straight at me, I could feel his gaze. "You're not disgusting, and you're not a fool for believing what Carter say, even if I don't know what Carter said, but you should listen to him. I never hated you, Gray…" I continued sobbing, how ever did it turn from us fighting and clawing at each other's throats to this is beyond me, but I couldn't stand watching Gray cry. I can't do that to him. I just can't.

"…Do you love me, Claire?" He asked, his voice was low and still a bit raspy from the sickness and from shouting.

I shook my head instantly and replied, "I don't…know…"

After some silence, he asked another question. "Do you want me to leave?"

I finally looked up to look at him. "No. I don't want you to leave…I don't want to be alone…I can't stay here if I know that you're not with me anymore. I really can't…am I selfish?" I laughed at self-disgust, I feel like I'm forcing him to stay with me, it's like I'm trying to tie a leash to him, holding him to stay with me. Goddess, how pathetic am I? But every word I said just now was the truth, I really can't stay here knowing that Gray was not going to be with me. He has become a part of me and without him…I'll suffocate.

Without knowing, he was already in front of me and stroking my hair softly. I unclench my fist and forced my tears to stop, I could feel the numbness from standing for so long creep up my legs. I looked up and the first thing I saw were those beautiful blue eyes, but since when did he have four, no, six eyes? Narrowing my eyes, I tried to focus on him but somehow the room continued to spin and waver, I felt light. Before I blacked out, I remember hearing Gray say, "That's all I need to hear, because I'm not giving up just yet." And then my mind went blank after that.

It was loudest sound of pans clanking into each other and falling onto the ground that woke me with a shock. I sat straight up but had to coil back onto the bed with my hand on my forehead, I shouldn't have gotten up too fast. I stared outside the window and was surprised when I noticed that it was still daytime. I lazily rubbed my eyes and stretched my arms before rolling out of bed. Gray was in the kitchen reading a cook book, he smiled at me when I reached him.

"Sorry for waking you up, how you feeling? It was just a 24 hours virus, so you should be fine now." He explained, flipping through the pages from the book. I yawned once then narrowed my eyes. 24 hours? It's still daytime, I couldn't have slept that long.

"How long was I out?" I asked.

"A long time. It's morning already, it should be 7am right now. I'll be going to work soon after breakfast."

"Oh Goddess, I slept that long? No wonder I got a headache right now…" I groaned, rubbing my knuckles against my temples. Mental note to self, try not to sleep too long, it produces headaches. "Gray?"

"Yeah?" He was already starting to take out some ingredients from my fridge.

"I'm sorry for yesterday…shouting about not wanting you as a husband and all." I said while walking out of bed towards him in the kitchen, stopping once I reached his side. "Honestly, I didn't really mean it…much."

"Much? Well thanks Claire, I can feel my self esteem rising up now." Grey joked sarcastically, but I thought I saw a pang of pain flash through his eyes.

"Shut up loser." I laughed and mocked punched him in the arm attempting to lighten up the mood, however my grin didn't stay on my face for long when I remember what I wanted to tell him. Grey sensed that and looked down on my face, quietly observing with concern written across his face. I looked back at him and smiled in response, a silent 'I'm fine.'

"I guess it's time I should tell you why the concept of marriage upsets me…"

Both of us stayed silent for a moment after I had explained to Gray in detail how I came to fear marriage in the first place. His eyes were assessing my face, and he opened and closed his mouth several times, unable to think of an appropriate comment. I smiled, stretching the corners of my lips as widely as possible, to show Gray that I was not upset. Even though it felt like the scar in my heart had been torn open again and was bleeding blood after each heartbeat.

"I'm fine! Why the awkward silence?" I joked, however Gray did not lighten up, rather he looked even more concerned.

"It's a lot Claire…I'm surprised you endured this memory for all this time…"

"What do you mean 'endured'? It was nothing!" I smiled up to him, waving my hands in front of me to ensure him that I was alright.

"Are you sure?" He asked, eyes staring at me and lips twisted in a grimace.

"…Yeah." I smiled weakly at him. Slowly I felt the barriers around my heart were being pulled down one by one each time Gray and I made eye contact. All of a sudden, Gray smiled back at me with understanding eyes, even though we both knew he had never experienced anything like this before. He opened up his arms, inviting me to come closer to him for a hug.

"Stop pretending you're so tough and come here already." His smile grew bigger, showing his white teeth.

The smile that was still plastered on my face slowly melted little by little and I felt tears building up in my eyes. I have kept the memory of my mother's death to myself for so long…I felt exposed after telling Gray. All of the barriers have come down and all that's left was my naked and bleeding heart, aching to be held. The first tear rolled down the corner of my eye and after that, I was no longer able to hold the rest back. Instantly, I dove into Gray's arms and burrowed my head in his sturdy chest. His arms wrapped around my trembling body and his hands were smoothing my back as three years of pain came flooding out of my body. Both our bodies were slumped against the kitchen counter, I choked and sputtered out my mom's name on and on while Gray gently consoled me with soft words, rocking me in his arms saying how everything is alright. Even though it may not feel like it much at the moment, I believed him and I felt the wound on my heart being stitched back together slowly, one thread at a time. Everything was alright.

* * *

A/N: I'm sorry for taking a long tine to update!! I'm really sorry about that. I'm getting constant visits from Writer's Block and it's driving me up the wall. I had to be forced by my sister in order to finish writing this, seriously, it was like doing homework. I was constantly racking my brains to think of something and finally, I finished the chapter. Woot! So thank my sister for forcing me, it would have taken a long time before I finish this without her help. She also helped write some parts in the story.

I also wanted to thank you guys who took the time to review my latest chapter, I was amazed at how many reviews I got and I think it was the most I received so far. So thank you guys, you ROCK!!! Your reviews helped me write by pressuring me to quickly make an update, so give yourself a pat on the back. XD

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Gray gives you a BIG hug for reviewing my story. XD I hope you review this chapter too. :) See you next time! JokingJester out. ;)


	19. Chapter 18

Disclaimer: I Don't Own Harvest Moon

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Chapter 18

"HAPPY BIRTHDAY CLAIRE!!!" They all shouted simultaneously, throwing their arms up into the air and dropping them back down continuously, causing the blonde farmer to squeal in delight. Everyone, which consisted of only Cliff, Ann, Saibara, Doug, were waving good bye to the 'happy couple' that were boarding the small ship that leads to the city. "We'll miss you, Claire!!" Ann shouted, but the reply she got back was, "I'm not moving!!" Saibara who was in on the marriage secret shouted, "Give me some grandsons, you here me boy??" That caused both Gray and Claire to blushed furiously and turn away from each other. "Gramps!! This is not a honeymoon!!" The flustered blacksmith yelled back.

"It might as well be." Doug added, shrugging his shoulders in a casual manner.

Today was Claire's 23rd birthday, she has received presents of all sorts from her friends, for instance, she received a wine bottle from Cliff, chocolate cake from both Doug and Ann, a bracelet from Saibara, and the most weirdest and surprising of all, Gray bought her a ticket to go into the city. Her city, the place where it all happened. The moment she received the ticket, she dragged Gray away and they both had a heated argument, mainly about how she did not want to go back. But at the end, Gray won the fight.

'_I read from this book in the library that to deal with your grief, you could go back to the place where it all started, to gain closure and all. This could work!' _

Realizing that he was only worried for her, she accepted his gift and allowed him to take her into the city for 2 days. They were to stay at a hotel that Gray had reserved a room for them, but he didn't tell her what else they were going to do for two days.

'_It's a secret, you'll find out when we get there._'

Claire pouted and puffed her cheeks in frustration, she hated the suspense and it was killing her. No matter how many times she asked, Gray would only answer the same boring 'N' word. Trying to discard her frustration, she closed her eyes and spread her arms out wide, welcoming the cool wind with open arms. A chill ran down her spine as she felt cold water droplets splattering onto her face. She sighed. She did not want to go back to the city at all, she never had any intention of doing so ever since that day. Pushing herself away from the rail, she leaned on the wall and slid down to a sitting posture, her arms wrapping around her legs for warmth. Leaning her head against her knees, she sighed again, her eyes traveling around and then stopped as she saw Gray, who was talking to Zack. A small smile crept up her face as she recalled the past few days after she told him her story. He was doing all sorts of stuff, from singing her to sleep (horribly) to trying to tap dance for her during dinner for her entertainment. He was doing so much, just to cheer her up for what happened 3 years ago.

Sensing that someone was staring at him, he turned around, smiling as he waved back to her. She waved softly, closing her eyes tiredly, she drifted to sleep as the rocking of the boat calmed her and the rush of the waves soothed her.

As soon as Gray was done talking to Zack about plans on their return, he looked back at Claire and found her rolled up on the deck floor. Chuckling to himself, he walked over to the still body and sat himself next to her and gently placed her head on his lap while looking overhead at the clear cloudless sky with a smile on his face.

* * *

"Why didn't you wake me up Gray?? I wanted to look for dolphins!" Claire complained endlessly, thrusting her arms in the air as she stared back at the big blue sea. Gray rolled his eyes, there were no dolphins, none that he could see at least.

"Well you should've thought of that BEFORE you fell asleep, besides, you looked like you needed a nap so I let you nap. Don't worry, you don't have to thank me." He chuckled, picking up their luggages from the ground and started walking away from the pier. Claire jogged up to keep up with him, sticking out her tongue at him playfully. "Good, cause I wasn't planning to." She giggled and slowed down to a walking pace.

"Hey, look Claire! Wanna go to the Emporium building? We can have lunch on the terrace! Or do you prefer Central Heights Tower?" He suggested, noticing the low rumbling that was emerging from both of their stomaches. The petite farmer looked over at her friend, her jaws dropped and her eyes wide open dramatically as if she was stunned, causing Gray to say, "What?"

"Gee Gray, for someone from the boonies, you sure know your way around the buildings in the city!" She exclaimed, imagining pictures of Gray studying a tourist book while she was asleep just to impress a city girl like her. Gray shook his head tiredly before stating, "…I used to _live_ here remember?" But Claire sympathetically patted his shoulder and eyed him with pity.

"C'mon Gray, you don't have to be embarrassed about coming from Mineral Town. Not everyone can be city folk."

"No seriously, don't you remember? I moved to Mineral Town to work with Gramps from the city, _this_ city." It took a while for Claire to remember, when she realized that she had just made a fool out of herself, her hand dropped from his shoulder to fall to her side and her face flushed a bright crimson red.

"…Oh…Right. Well…I was kidding! Ha ha! Joke's on you Gray, you fell for it!" Claire stammered and then ran off embarrassed "Uh, let's just get a hotdog, I want more time to shop!" Purposely trying to remove the spotlight from her, she randomly pointed to a vendor selling pretzels instead of hotdogs like she mentioned.

"Gee Claire, I know you're from the boonies but I thought you would've at least known the difference between a hotdog and a pretzel."

"Shut up Gray! Just get me two pretzels…and a juice box…" Claire muttered embarrassedly as her cheeks were now flushing red. Gray sniggered while walking over to the vendor to buy 5 pretzels and two juice boxes and when he turned back to hand over Claire's share of food, she was gone. Panicking, he spun around trying to spot the petite blonde, cursing at himself if he lost her and spotted Claire standing in front of a jewelry store across the road from him. Heaving a sigh he jogged over to where she was standing and dangled the brown bag with her pretzels in front of her face.

"Don't ever run off like that again! You almost gave me a heart attack."

"Awww, you were worried sick about me huh Dad?" Claire giggled as she reached up to grab the bag of food from Gray but it was immediately pulled higher, further away from her grasping hands. "Give it Gray, give it!" Gray chuckled and once he's had his fun watching Claire's cute expression (one when she's trying very hard to do something) he lowered the bag of pretzels to her reach and immediately, she snatched it away to prevent being 'bullied' again. Claire tore open the bag and without delay bit into one of the soft pretzels like a lioness biting into the meat of a newly caught gazelle.

"So what were you looking at anyway?" Gray asked while chewing on his own pretzel.

"Huh? Oh, you know. Shiny stuff." Claire said then went back to munching on her food but she's still eyeing the locket in the display window and Gray notices what she's looking at)

"You want it?" Gray asked while gently bumping his shoulder into hers and she looked at his face with wide eyes, stunned that Gray was so quick to suggest that he'd buy it for her. Then quickly shaking her head, she smiled back at him.

"Nah, it's just some stupid piece of overpriced jewelry…For how much it costs I could probably buy 5 dresses. Speaking of, let's go look at clothes!" With a great amount of enthusiasm, Claire pulled on Gray's arm towards the chain of boutiques lined along the street, not noticing Gray giving the beautiful locket in the window one last look before refocusing his eyes back on where they were heading. On their way towards one of the elegantly decorated shops, Claire saw a flash of purple. Instantly curious, she turned her head towards it but unfortunately she was a second too late. The door behind the man whom she thought was her boyfriend, Kai, was closed thus blocking him from her line of sight. Scratching her head in confusion, Claire gave the closed door one last look before turning back to Gray who was standing in front of a woman's clothing store staring hard at one of the mannequins in deep concentration.

"Please don't tell me you're trying to undress her with your eyes because that would be deeply disturbing." Claire whispered behind Gray's ear and looked left to right, acting like she was careful not to let anyone hear her say that. Gray laughed before pulling her in front of him to make her look at the doll behind the glass.

"Look at that dress! I was just imagining you in it. I kinda think you'd look nice if you tried it on…"

"Since when did you become an expert on fashion?? It doesn't look that go-…no wait, it actually looks really good! Should I go in and try it on?" Claire turned back to ask with excitement sparkling visibly in her eyes and Gray gave her an assuring smile. That was an answer enough for Claire as she dashed right into the shop to ask them to take the dress off the mannequin for her.

Staring longingly at the simple yet beautiful blue sundress dress draped on the model Claire kept imagining how it would look on her. It was made with cotton, which assures her that it will be comfortable, and it would probably come down to a little above her knees when worn. The top part would perfectly cling to her body, showing off her lines and curves while the skirt was loose and looked gentle enough to be blown elegantly in the wind. She could wear it to church…she could wear it to the beach…she could even wear it to impress Gray, Claire thought before quickly blinking away her thoughts, stunned that a part of her wanted to look good for Gray. She turned back to look at Gray who was still standing outside of the small boutique finishing up his third pretzel. When he felt her gaze on him, he peeked at her from underneath his lashes and quickly looked away, the blood rushing up to fill his cheeks. He didn't wear his UMA cap today so he was unable to hide his expression underneath its protective shadow. In fact, Gray was not dressed in his usual attire of his working jumpsuit and cap but was instead wearing a plain white t-shirt and a pair of jeans. Claire even wondered where the clothes came from since she has never seen him wearing anything else before. Gray had the same thought about Claire since she was not wearing her normal blue overalls either. She had on a pair of jean shorts (which Gray felt was inappropriately too short since it attracted a lot of other guys' attentions, including him) and a plain white spaghetti strap shirt. Her straight blonde hair was tied up in a ponytail. When the shopkeeper handed Claire the dress, Gray held up his pretzel and smiled at her and in silent language meant that he was going to wait outside until he finished his food.

As she held back the curtains, she exited from the small, cramped dressing room. The dress exposed her firm back as she twirled around to see the effect of movement on the hem of her skirt. As she expected, the dress twirled gracefully around her legs and when she was contempt with her spinning test, she stood with her hands on her waist and called over her shoulder, "Gray? What do you think about this dress?" but she was not answered. The dressmaker walked to her instead and complimented her on how she looked in it but her opinion was not the one Claire seek. Confused, she walked around the shop trying to see if Gray was hidden behind a clothes rack or accessory stand but just when she was about to poke her head out the door to look outside, Gray came jogging over to her.

"Hey!" he gasped, slightly out of breath, "It looks good on you!"

"Umm, thanks. Where'd you run off to just now?"

"Oh, after finishing the pretzel I was still pretty thirsty so I went to get a bottle of water. I kinda figured that you still wouldn't be done by the time I came back. Sorry." Gray apologized with a small smile on his lips.

"Just don't do that again! I thought a stranger lured you off with candy or something." Claire joked and received a gentle push on the head as Gray walked back into the store with her. Gray secretly paid the clerk for the dress as Claire changed back into her jeans and shirt then they both headed out to other stores, joking and laughing, to continue their shopping in the city.

* * *

"Phew, I'm pooped!" Claire exclaimed as she and Gray walked into the extravagant lobby of a five star hotel. Gray was carrying huge bags from many different stores, including both their luggage since he was so keen on trying to make Claire feel relaxed on her birthday. Claire stretched her arms outwardly into the air and yawned as Gray _threw _the bags onto one of the open couches that were in the lobby. Massaging his limbs and joints, he said, "Don't worry, I reserved two of the best rooms here for us, I'll be right back." And with that, he walked over to the reception desk, leaving Claire to wonder how on earth her friend got so much money for a five star hotel in the first place. Dismissing the idea, she flopped down onto the couch and waited. She waited and waited, as she glanced over to see what was taking Gray so long, she was surprised to see him and the receptionist in what looks like an argument.

"What do you mean the rooms I reserved where given to someone else??!!" Gray snarled angrily at the scared employee. He felt Claire's small hand tapping on his back, but ignored it as the receptionist timidly replied, "I-I-I'm sorry sir, b-but there were some technical difficulties with our s-servers and w-we accidentally booked you in e-even when the r-rooms were already taken. The couples who booked has already checked-in-"

"Are there any more rooms left??" Gray interrupted.

"None sir…" The mouse of a man squeaked, causing Gray's fist to heavily bang on the table. He groaned, he had Claire's birthday all planned out perfectly, there weren't suppose to be mistakes, just for today.

"Gray," Claire's soft melodic voice chimed as she patted his back a few times more, "perhaps we could go check other hotels, there's tons in the city, and we don't have to go to _this_ one." She soothed calmly, although in her mind she was screaming and reeking havoc, imagining of pulling the thin mustache out of the face of the receptionist. She felt a small nod before Gray walked tiredly back to the bags and starts picking them up one-by-one. As they both marched out of the hotel, they ventured the streets for other hotels.

_6:30pm_

"So there are no rooms available here?"

_7:05pm_

"I see, you're booked to next month…"

_7:39pm_

"It's just two rooms, can't you squeeze us in somewhere?"

_8:20pm_

"Umm…no, I rather that we have two rooms."

_8:50pm_

"Thank you, but we're not on our honey moon…so there's no other than the honey moon suite?"

_9:45pm_

"This is our 6th hotel that we checked, are there really no rooms? Yes, I'm aware that it's tourist season…"

_10:30pm_

"You know what?? I don't even want to stay at this place!! Hah!!"

_11:00pm_

"Gray? I thank you for today, really I do. Maybe we should go back home…I'll run out to Doug's to get dinner." Claire suggested as she rubbed her aching legs. Currently, the two were left sitting on a park bench, resting their sore leg muscles from trekking all over the city, relaxing their necks from having to glance up to read names of the buildings, and kneading their arms from carrying numerous bags that held their possessions that they bought over the day. A soft rumble emerged from both their stomachs, their last meal was at noon and all they had since then were bottled water and chocolate bars that Claire had with her.

She looked over to the defeated man next to her, he was not in his best form. With his head in his hands, his orange hair ruffled countless of times, and the heavy sighs that left him, he looked like he aged. He let out another sigh again before slightly turning his head to get a better look at Claire.

Her golden hair that was tied in a tight ponytail once upon a time was slightly loosened, allowing strands of her hair to escape and brush against her face and neck. Sweat glistened against the streetlight, acting as body glitter and diamonds. Even after the hours of walking, she still looked as beautiful as ever. It was fortunate that she didn't notice him staring, instead, her gaze and thoughts were locked on the familiar and unfamiliar settings of the city. So much has changed since then.

Gray stood up abruptly, surprising Claire at the sudden movement. His face was stressed and frustrated, causing wrinkles to appear on his youthful features. With eyes squeezed shut, he kept on shaking his head as if trying to discard a certain thought. Claire was about to ask when he snatched his phone from his back pockets in one swift movement and clicked on a speed-dial number.

"Gray, what are you-" But before she finished, he gave her a quick 'shh' and went back to listening to the phone. He glanced over at Claire and then walked away to a quieter spot, causing Claire to frown at the secrecy. Who on earth could he be calling? Before long, he came back with a strained smile on his face and a bored expression, causing Claire to grow worried. He didn't say a word as he started to pick up the bags and usher for Claire to follow him as he called a taxi.

"Gray, where are we going??" She demanded, she didn't like being kept in the dark, for all she knows, maybe he's a drug dealer and he's taking her to his hideout.

He gave her a wry smile before answering softly, "To my mom's place."

* * *

A/N: Hey guys. I bet you're tired of hearing/reading me say this, but I'm terribly sorry for the slow update. I was sick and I get headaches if I stare at the computer so I had to wait till I'm healed, and right now I'm also busy since school's about to open and I'm packing my stuff since I'm moving to another country!! So that's eating my time...and I'm currently being called over by my mom to go continue packing my stuff so I have to hurry. I would like to thank you ALL the WONDERFUL ppl who reviewed last chapter of HMD and those who reviewed my latest one-shot "To Court Her"!! You guys are FANTABULOUS!! (Is there such a word? I don't know, but I like the sound of it. Don't you? XD) Arghh!! My mom's threatening me now that she's going to pull the plug!! I have to go, I thank you again those who read, reviewed, and favorited my stories!!


	20. Chapter 19

Disclaimer: I Dont Own Harvest Moon.

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Chapter 19

"Holy cow on a stick!! This is your house?? The place where you grew up in?? The place where you sleep, eat, and sleep?? The place where your mommy changed your diapies?? The place where-" Gray's hand came down on top of Claire's mouth before she could continue, knowing her, she probably would not stop until she's bored. He gave her a 'shh', his eyes pleading for her to stay quiet before he slowly removed his hand away from her mouth, which were still open, ready to continue her previous sentence. He grabbed her hand and tightened his hold on the luggage, dragging an excited Claire towards the house.

It was a large 19th century Victorian mansion, complete with overhanging eaves, graceful verandahs, and ornately carved window surrounds. The mansion's stone walls were aged but well maintained and looked like a piece of old history, standing in today's time. The building was set upon a vast and seemingly never ending lawn with evergreen trees growing in coordinated locations. Unbelievably, it was only 30 minutes away from the city, as one would suspect that a beautiful scene such as this would be hours away in the suburbs.

Claire was still in awe as she looked around herself, turning left to right, left to right continuously as she was pulled by the hand. Disbelief swallowed her whole, she had no idea that Gray grew up in a prestigious and prosperous life, and he's never shown any of the usual symptoms of a rich boy. Her gaze diverted to the man in front of her, looking up and down at his appearance, how could she tell that he's a rich boy if he wore t-shirt and jeans and not Gucci and Prada? Well, if he wore those, he'll probably look like a transvestite, but that's not the point. She looked back at the house and then again to Gray, there was nothing in common at all between the two. She shrugged it off, perhaps he stuffed his brand name clothing in his fancy closet(s).

"I don't wear those stuffy, fancy clothing, mind you." Gray called back, shocking Claire. He smirked, "It's not that hard to guess what you're thinking." That left Claire pondering for a while. As they reached the entrance door, Claire was already bored with the scenery and was fuming about how she's going to sleep like the dead, earning another 'shh' from her husband.

"What?? Can't I talk at all?" She whispered, frowning at being 'shh'-ed at two times. Gray shook his head, peeking into the windows first before turning back to explain, "You can talk…just be quiet." He whispered back.

"Why? Don't tell me………this _is_ your house right? Please tell me that we're not breaking in someone else's house!!" She managed to squeak, images of Gray breaking into houses like a gangster flew through her head, but before other images of him doing something illegal could occur, Gray flicked her forehead.

"Are you crazy? Do I look like a burglar to you??" Silence. "Don't answer that. This is my mom's house, I just don't want her to know we're here…yet."

"Why?"

Gray opened his mouth to answer, but before he could say anything, the entrance door was opened, presenting an old butler dressed in black bowing down. Peeking inside past the butler that opened the door, there was a line of maids, curtsying in unison as they saw Gray, all saying "Welcome home Master Grayson". There was a gigantic, elegant staircase in the middle of the hall, leading up towards the second floor was a middle-aged woman in fur robes who stood posing like a model on the center of the stairs. Gray's head dropped tiredly, sighing with boredom as he thumbed towards the insides of the house he muttered, "That's why." Claire was only able to mouth her lips in the shape of 'O' but no words came out, she was too flabbergasted to say anything. Shaking his head, he took hold of Claire's hand again and dragged her inside, nodding for the butler to close the doors.

"I'm home, mom." He said with a small smile as he looked up towards the figure that was gliding down the steps. Looking around himself, he noticed that every single maid and butler was still standing in their places, most of them resisting from yawning due to lack of sleep. "You can go to sleep." He ordered, receiving bows and low mutters of thank-yous all around.

"Grayson dear, I recall I once told you to call me by my name. 'Mom' makes me sound old." She finally reached the last step. Brushing away her long, fiery red locks, she pursed her lips in displease.

"Sorry…Geraldine." Gray mumbled in reply, embarrassed that his mother used his real name in front of Claire, whom he had never mentioned it to before.

"That's better." Geraldine said with a content look on her face. Diverting her eyes to her son's accompany she gazed with slight wonder at who the girl, whose hand was entwined with her son's, was. Analyzing her from head to toe, Gray's mother was pleased with what she saw and decided that her son's apparent girlfriend was worth her time and breath. Mustering a 'warm' smile to greet the blonde girl, she opened her arms in a sweeping gesture towards the halls of her large European mansion and declared as if addressing a roomful of people instead of a party of two, "Welcome to the Worthington Estate!"

Claire who was still in awe merely blinked in reply, taking in the sight of the elegant woman standing in front of her. Like Gray, she has red copper hair that extends all the way to her lower back, curling in all the right directions. Her eyes were a shade of icy blue, and they seemed to hold the ability to freeze anyone who defied her. She had high cheekbones and her lips were curved up into a purse. On her body, a satin night gown clung to the curves of her body, flowing down all the way to the marble floor. Although it was almost midnight and probably having been woken out of bed to come downstairs without the time for makeup, Geraldine was beautiful. Claire shuddered at the thought of standing next to her, looking the way she is now. Geraldine continued with barely a pause and directing her cold blue eyes toward Claire, "I am Geraldine Worthington, Grayson's mother, and who might you be?"

She smiled invitingly at the blonde girl however it looked like how a snake would smile before it ate the field mouse. Gray nudged Claire gently with his elbow, reminding her to answer, and Claire realizing she has been silent quickly answered, "Claire, ma'am."

Geraldine raised her eyebrows in question after Claire's last name to which Claire quickly added "Danvers.", her mother Caroline's maiden name, then looked down to her feet, unable for the first time to look into a person's eyes. Geraldine's long elegant fingers came under Claire's chin and softly pulled her head back up. She studied the girl's face, turning her head from one side to the other. Then finally pursing her lips into a smile, she approved of Claire's appearance and said "Charmed, dear." Letting go of Claire's chin, her eyes dropped towards her and Gray's hand and saw the glint of matching wedding bands on the couple's left hands.

"You're married Grayson??" Geraldine gasped, covering her mouth, her eyes boring into the two young adults in front of her. Immediately, Claire pulled her hand out of Gray's when realizing that Gray's mother had seen their rings. "Why did you not invite me? Why did you not bring Clarissa over so we could get acquainted first?"

"Uh, actually…it's just Claire." Claire said after hearing the older woman call her by a real name she never used, a bit confused by how she even _knew _her real name in the first place.

"Did you not think I'd approve? What are the papers going to say once they find out that _my_ _son_ has skulked off and gotten married on that ruin of an island?!" Geraldine continued with her endless string of questions, completely ignoring Claire's comment. However, Gray who was used to his mother's behavior replied back in a volume higher than hers.

"Mothe-I mean, Geraldine, we did not skulk off anywhere! It was kind of last minute, that's why I didn't tell you…and why do we need to involve the press?? Can't we just keep this to ourselves?"

"Certainly not, Grayson! Such an event must be celebrated! A family like ours joining with the…what family do you come from again, dear child?" The older woman asked, her attention upon the young blonde girl at her son's side.

"Umm, Danvers ma'am." Claire quickly answered, using her mother's last name.

"Hmmm, Danvers…" Tilting her head to one side, deep in thought, Geraldine pursed her lips again. "I have never heard of the Danvers around here, is your family residing in another country? Surely if your parents were around here, I'd have met them at the country club already." Claire not knowing how to answer suddenly panicked. Her apparent 'mother-in-law' assumed that she was from a high-society family just like Gray. How was she going to break it to her that she has no social standing whatsoever? Just as Claire was about to answer, Gray replied for her instead.

"She's not like you Geraldine, her family does not go to country clubs." Claire would've been angry at that but she saw something that looks like pride when Gray told his mother that Claire is not from a rich family. "She lives alone and works for herself on her own farm in Mineral Town!" He continued, shooting Claire a proud look before facing his mother again. Shock flashed through her eyes as her look of disbelief quickly turned to one of anger and as fast as it came, it was gone. Geraldine slowly smiled, and said "I see." Her manicured brow arched as she glanced at her expensive, imaginary watch on her wrist and declared that it was very late. She called for two of her maids and told them to take both Gray and Claire to their rooms, emphasizing on 'rooms' where they must be separated. Then turning back towards the two young adults, she smiled sweetly and said her 'good-night' and swooped up the grand staircase and disappeared behind a corner towards her own room. Gray and Claire who were still left downstairs with the two maids were confused at what just happened but both shrugged it off. The two maids politely beckoned for them to follow up the stairs as they walked behind slowly.

"What exactly just happened?" Claire whispered to Gray while pulling along her own bag.

"…I don't exactly know, but I know it's not something good. When Geraldine is sweet, that's when you should never trust her." Gray whispered back.

"…She scares me…I feel like she's the witch in Hansel and Gretel and she's about to push me into the oven and eat me up for breakfast…"

Gray chuckled at Claire's comparison and shook his head at the detail in which he imagined his mother living in a house made of candy. "Why do you think I moved to Mineral Town to live with Gramps?"

"Guess that makes sense…" Claire replied as they came towards a stop in front of two doors facing each other. The maids curtseyed before disappearing back through the dark hallway, dimly lit by the moonlight shining through one of many tall glass windows. "Goodnight then…_Gray_son!" Claire chirped teasingly, showing no signs of fatigue or distress from meeting her 'mother-in-law', vanishing behind one of the closed doors. Gray smiled and opened the door to his old room, giving Claire's door one last look before heaving a sigh and closing his own.

* * *

"…Okay, so I was planning on getting breakfast at this popular bistro before we do anything else." Gray explained as he jogged down the steps with Claire at his side. Claire stretched and sighed contently, today she woke up at 8am, getting 2 hours more of sleep was luxurious enough for her. Gray smiled, reaching over to play with her hair. Laughing, Claire slapped his hand off but all smiles and laughter ceased instantly the moment they reached the bottom of the vast staircase.

"Good morning, children. Come, come join me for breakfast." Geraldine gestured towards the empty seats along the lengthy glass table. Steaming layers of pancakes topped with fresh blueberries and sprinkled with icing, fresh squeezed orange juice filled to the brim in a glass mug, and fresh picked fruits covered every inch of the table's surface. Smiling sweetly, Geraldine sipped on her coffee and gestured for them to seat themselves again. Exchanging stares, Gray and Claire slowly made their way towards the vast dining room to seat themselves in between the lady of the house. The atmosphere instantly turned awkward as no one in the room made a sound except for the sound of silverware clinking against the fine china as Gray and Claire ate their breakfast.

"So Grayson, what are your plans for today?" Geraldine suddenly inquired, completely ignoring Claire and focusing all of her attention onto her son.

"Well Geraldine, me _and Claire_ were planning to go out around town again today. Might as well make the best of today since we're going back to Mineral town tomorrow." He explained calmly, taking a sip from his own coffee. "Tomorrow? My dear son, why leave so soon? Stay for a few more weeks, I hardly ever see you and of course I could not go to Mineral Town, it's just so complicated."

"You mean you would not right?"

"Of course not Grayson! Dearest, don't say such things, you're my only son!"

"Sure Geraldine…well, we're done eating. We'll be going now. Thanks, we'll see you in the evening." Gray quickly said and pulled on Claire's arm to stand up while she was in the middle of biting into her toast.

"B-but I'm not done eating!" Claire mumbled with a mouth full of bread.

"Actually dear, there are some people who are coming over to the house today during lunch so I'd appreciate it if you came back and joined us." Geraldine said, nonchalantly, ignoring Claire as she continued sipping on her coffee, not looking up from the society columns on the newspaper. Nodding, Gray pushed Claire out the door and almost broke into a run in trying to get out of the house before his mother called him on any more favors. Sadly for him, they weren't fast enough.

"And bring a fresh bouquet of flowers with you! Preferably lilies."

"I didn't even get to eat pancakes yet!" Claire wailed as they were far away from the Worthington's breakfast parlor.

"You really wanted to endure more of my mom?? You should be grateful that I got us out!"

"Hey, where there's food, I wouldn't mind…much." Gray chuckled in response and before the two reached the front doors, a thought suddenly occurred to him. Turning back towards his mother who was still seated at the table with a frown on her face, he shouted out to her, "Hey Geraldine, is it still in the garage?" causing her to frown even more.

"Is what, dear?"

"Batman." Gray answered back simply. Claire who was next to him munching on a piece of toast she picked from the table raised her eyes brows in curiosity. '_Batman? Why on earth would he need Batman? Why is he in his garage in the first place?_' She continued to wonder on, her mouth continuously nipping on the piece of bread. Geraldine, who was already frowning, causing her to gain crease marks on her forehead, grimaced as she understood what her son was referring to.

"I thought I told you to remove your scrap metal out of the garage before you left to see your grandfather. Don't tell me you haven't removed it." She placed the cup of tea in her hands onto the table with a loud, frustrated _thump_. Since the day Gray brought that contraption, for years, she's been telling him that it ruins the image of their household status, but he never listened. He considered it a symbol of rebellion, also it annoyed his mother endlessly, so it was therefore crucial to have around.

"Well, if I'm asking about it, it's still here." Gray mumbled to himself with a small smirk that was hidden away from his mother but visible to Claire. He gently pushed Claire towards the door again with shouts from Geraldine regarding disposal of 'Batman' coming behind them. Slamming the door, and the last of his mother's remarks, Gray beckoned for Claire to follow him towards the side of the mansion, skipping along giddily which Claire struggled to keep up while munching on her toast at the same time.

"Who's Batman?" she asked, shoving the last of her toast into her mouth.

"Batman's a 'what'. And what it _is_, is my escape from this life and most of all my mother!" Gray replied with pride heavy in his voice. Smiling when the two stood in front of a huge garage door, Gray clicked on a button at the side of the wall. When the doors lifted up, he ran towards a shrouded object left leaning against a wall at the far end of the room, ignoring the rows of expensive European automobiles, to stand next to it. Claire who followed later, walked slowly, gawking at everything in the Worthington's garage. Gray pulled off the cloak, revealing a black and midnight blue motorbike. Seeing it, the blonde farmer finally realized why it was named 'Batman'. Scoffing, Claire walked to the opposite side of the motorbike facing Gray and said "_You_ drive _this? _Why Grayson, I never took a boy like you for a fun lovin', edgy, mysterious bad boy." Blushing, Gray muttered in reply "I like the speed…it's kinda scary but pretty cool."

"You boys and adrenaline, I just don't get it." Claire smiled and continued, "Why can't we take a nice and safe European car instead?" She recommended dreamily, gazing lovingly upon the Rolls Royce that stood proudly in the center of the room. But of course, the very idea of Gray giving in was just a faraway dream after hearing him speak oh so majestically about his 'Batman'.

"A crummy car over _Batman?_ Not a chance Claire! Besides, don't you remember the issue of parking spots in this city?"

Sighing in defeat, Claire swung her leg up, sat herself on the passenger seat, and patted the driver's seat beckoning Gray to sit as well. Grinning, he joined her and immediately started the engine. As soon as the motorcycle roared to life, Claire's arms wrapped themselves around Gray's waist, holding on with fear. '_Another reason why Batman's better than a racecar'_ the young blacksmith thought before handing the girl behind him a helmet and putting one on himself.

"You ready?" He shouted back towards Claire over the sound of Batman's purring.

"Fudge, no!!" She replied under her oversized helmet, at which Gray chuckled and told her to hold on, which to his pleasure she did, before kicking off and speeding out of the garage, out the gates, and away from the estate.

Geraldine stood silently at the window, eyeing the two who have just left the front gates with displeasure and distaste. She still couldn't believe that out of the many marriage candidates that she have announced and introduced to her son over the years, he ended up marrying a poor farmer from the under-populated island. No matter, she would do anything in her power to break off this ridiculous relationship, which she _will _be able to do, and that little miss nobody would soon leave. She smiled at the delicious idea.

* * *

"Watch out for the-EEEEEEKKKKKKKKKKK!!!!!" Claire screamed again for what seemed like the hundredth time in 10 minutes. It wasn't that she's afraid of the speed that Gray was driving, that she could take, but the feeling of being so exposed and unsafe was frightening her. Vivid pictures of her and Gray swerving around the corner and Claire scraping her leg on cars were enough to cause her panicking. "Could you slow down??" She yelled into Gray's ear. Gray glanced at the mirror, looking at Claire's wide-eyes and chattering teeth, he chuckled at how goofy she looked. Her arms were wrapped tightly around his waist, causing him to cough occasionally when he speeds up, which leads her to react by hugging his waist tighter. "Slow down Gray!!" She screamed once more before letting out a high-pitched shriek as they passed through a narrow way between cars. Her arms tightened once more, Gray smiled at this.

"Can't hear you!" He shouted back, grinning as he sped up even more. It took a few more shouts before Gray finally stopped teasing her and slowed down, but that was only because they were reaching their destination.

As he watched Claire fumble down from his motorcycle, he couldn't help but laugh loudly as she wobbled towards the street lamp and held onto it for balance.

"That's NOT funny!" Claire gasped in between breaths. Eyelashes fluttering, she tried to make sense of the spinning landscape and when she finally regained her sense of balance she smacked Gray on the arm.

"Ouch, what was that for?"

"You know _exactly _what that's for! I know you heard me! And what are we doing here anyways?"

"I thought you were hungry, this bistro serves the best-"

"Well what are we waiting for?? Let's go!" Claire exclaimed at the reminder of her unfinished breakfast and tugged on Gray's arm towards the small modern little bistro on the corner of a road.

* * *

"So what do we do next?" Claire asked in between wiping her mouth on a napkin. Sighing contentedly at the delicious breakfast she just finished, she placed her elbows on the table in front of her and stared at Gray with her large aqua eyes waiting for an answer. Almost choking on how adorable the small girl in front of him looked, Gray coughed away the last remnants of his eggs stuck in his throat before giving her an answer.

"Uhh…Geraldine wanted flowers so I guess we have to go get her some…unless you want to shop some more from yesterday?"

"Nah, I think yesterday's loot was enough don't you?" Claire smiled, tilting her head onto one hand which immediately made Gray blush. Having been together for this long, he would've thought that the shock from seeing how pretty she looked would wear off…but it didn't.

"So I guess it's off to the flower shop." Paying for their meal, the two headed out of the shop and started walking towards a nearby flower boutique. Before entering the beautifully adorned shop, Claire saw a flash of purple again a small distance away from her. Convinced that her eyes were playing tricks on her, she turned towards it and was surprised to see Kai walking out of a jewelry shop across the road. Claire's lips immediately stretched into a wide smile and before she could even take a step closer towards her boyfriend, a beautiful young woman ran out of the jewelry shop to greet him. As Claire saw Kai smiling in return to her and holding out his arms, she saw the other woman walk right into his embrace and the two of them hugged before parting with wide smiles and walking arm in arm into the jewelry shop. Shocked at what she just saw, Claire tried to invent several justifications for his actions but discovered that there were more bad scenarios in her head rather than good ones. "Maybe this is why he stays away from Mineral town for 3 out of 4 seasons…" she muttered to herself quietly before realizing that Gray had just came back out of the flower shop behind her with a fresh and beautifully decorated bouquet of lilies. "Stupid overpriced weeds…Moon drops are prettier than these…" Gray complained before coming to stand next to his best friend.

"I thought you were right behind me…what's wrong? You look as though you just seen someone getting hit by a car." He looked her over with worry clear in his eyes before Claire looked back at him. Strangely, she felt a small feeling of relief when she stared back at the man who was holding flowers and staring back down at her in concern. Smiling, she shrugged her shoulders once and replied, "Nah, I didn't see anyone getting hit by a car, but I did see a car getting hit by someone!"

"I always miss out on all the action." Gray chuckled in response before the two made their way back to Gray's motorbike and drove off back to the mansion.

* * *

Merry Christmas everyone!!! :D

I know, I know that i'm SUPER late. School + Lack of Motivation = Deadly Combo to stop me/you from writing. But I'm feeling a little more motivated now, i dont know why, but i'll try to continue my stories. I'm even trying to write a ToT story, so if you like my work, please look forward to it. ;)

Soooo, ooooohhhh~ Does Kai have a secret girlfriend in the city? *gasp* Shocker there. You'll find out soon in the next 2-3 chapters, maybe! So wait patiently and please forgive my slow lazy brain. I already wrote almost half of the next chapter, i'm working as fast as i could.

Now the reviews, 9 REVIEWS! WOOT!! Thank you so much guys! I seriously cannot survive without feedback! XD

So Thank You:

**Kitty go moo**

**shiro-chan x bed-wetter-momo**

**chocobo86**

**Kia**

**kittykyo5467**

**quickcutie**

**Gabi123**

**'Crazy' Artist Chick**

**Crystal.122296**

and **Lov3yHart (for reviewing the 2 old chapters)**

Without you guys, i'm a goner for sure! So thank you again, have a cookie on me. XD

And i'll see you guys later, JokingJester out. ;)

Ohhh, btw, does anyone know the english names for the protagonists of the Wii Harvest Moon game? Umm..Hikari and Yuuki. I know Angela and Kevin, but what are the other two? I would really appreciate some help. And would it be weird if I just think of an english name for them instead? _;;


	21. Chapter 20

A/N: ...If I appear on the A/N are you going to kill me? Ahaha, i finally updated Hello My Darling! After my really long disappearance, I finally felt like continuing my story and TRYING to finish it for good. TRYING. I don't know if I'll finish it, but I do know that it won't be much longer til the end. Is that a spoiler? Don't kill me. Just bear with me for a few more chapters and I'll be gone.

I don't know about the other stories I have, I'm seriously considering just deleting them since I don't know if I'l finish them or not. I'll store it and if I ever finish it, i'll upload them all at once.

So recap, Gray and Claire went to the city where they met his mother, Geraldine Worthington, and Claire saw Kai with another woman. Have fun with this chapter.

Disclaimer: I miss you too disclaimer. I don't own Harvest Moon, okay? Now please stop haunting my dreams!

* * *

**Chapter 20**

"-I'm telling you, Gray. You wouldn't believe the kind of people that live here! I saw it with my own eyes. I mean, I FELT it with my own body! A tiny grandmother literally sent me flying when she pushed me out of her way!" Claire continued on complaining as they both got down from the bike. Gray was still chuckling as he came over the other side to support her.

"And I still think that you were hallucinating, no grandma as small as you're describing could be that strong. Strong enough to, and I quote, 'send you flying'." He slung an arm around her waist and pulled her arm up to wrap around his neck. Claire gave him a dirty look.

"I'm bleeding on my knees! My clean cheeks have scratches that would most likely give me a scar or can kill me if they're infested. My shirt is ripped when I had to detangle myself from the bush. A dog stole my shoe, and you're still not going to believe me? You're the worst friend in the world, Gray!"

"Or maybe I'm the best friend in the world. Since I chose not to give in to your made up stories-"

"They're not made up!" Claire interjected, but Gray went on talking as if she didn't.

"-then you're not going to get spoiled. I'm looking out for you here."

"Oh yeah? Well-" But before Claire could say anything else, the door that led them inside the house swung open, revealing Geraldine in her ever-lasting beauty. She smiled at her son, but when she looked over at Claire, her lips twisted into a smug smile.

"My my, Clarissa dear, did you get a haircut?" She asked.

"No…Geraldine, she fell. That's all." Gray answered, tightening his grip around Claire's waist.

"Oh? I thought that was how you looked like when you left the house. Are you hurt, Clarissa? Shall I call a doctor for you?"

"No, thank you. I'm fine, Geraldine." Claire answered with a smile through gritted teeth. Oh how she longed to give her dear mother-in-law a slap on the face to wipe the Botox out.

"Alright, Grayson dear, be sure to tidy her up before she enters the house. I don't want filth inside." She ended before walking away, the clicking of her heels getting softer and softer as she disappeared inside the house. A maid walked timidly into the garage to take the lilies that were tied to the back seat of his motorcycle before scurrying away after Geraldine.

"Sorry about that…again." Gray immediately apologized for his mother as he helped Claire inside. Claire didn't respond until they made it inside her bedroom. When he closed the door behind them, she instantly let out a frustrated groan.

No one said anything while Claire continued on making weird noises into the pillow. Gray sat down on the edge of the bed beside her with a first aid kit he got out of the cabinet in the bathroom. He took out a cotton ball and some alcohol, dropped some on it and breathed in deeply before he wiped it across her scratches. Claire screamed into the pillow from the pain. He grimaced at the sound, feeling bad that he was inflicting even _more _pain onto her. He tried to think of something good to say to her to make her feel better.

"She doesn't hate you that much, Claire…" But then regretted saying that the second he it came out of his mouth. Claire pulled the pillow off her face and scoffed, leaning on her elbows to give him an '_are you kidding me?_' look.

"Are you fudging kidding me? The woman hates my guts. She called me _filth_!"

"She was talking about the dirt on your shoes…"

"_Please_, Gray. Be naïve some other time. Your mom hates me…if she could kick me out she would jump at the chance."

"She-" Gray continued trying to make persuade her that Geraldine didn't mean any harm, but then gave up trying since even _he_ didn't believe in what he said. "Fine, she hates you. But on the bright side, by tomorrow morning, the boat will be back to pick us up and we don't have to come back ever again. Unless you want to."

"…" Claire thought about what she saw today at the flower shop. Kai with another woman…just thinking about it made her face flush with anger. She furiously shook her head, "No. I don't want to come back."

"Neither do I…umm…you should grit your teeth now." Gray warned as he got ready to clean another scratch on her leg. Claire gritted her teeth…hard and then buried her face into the pillow she was hugging as she waited for the flash of pain.

"Grayson dear!" Geraldine's voice floated into the room, her voice booming from downstairs, getting closer and closer to the door as they hear her heels clicking towards them. The door was opened by a maid as Geraldine waltzed inside, frowning disapprovingly at the scene of Gray cleaning Claire's wounds. She pursed her red lips and brushed a strand of hair away from her pale face. "Grayson dear, didn't you remember that we're having a guest over?"

"Uhh…no." At his answer, Geraldine flashed Claire a dirty glare, as if accusing her that it was her fault that he didn't remember.

"Well then, I was expecting you to freshen up to be ready to greet her. Madison Van Lowe is coming and I want you to look your best for her since you'll be taking her out for lunch."

"…I'm sorry, Geraldine. The alcohol must be messing with my head, but did you just say that I was expected to take Madison Van Lowe out to lunch?"

"…" Claire silently stared at the both of them, wondering who Madison Van Lowe was, and whether or not Geraldine already forgot that Gray was married. Married to _her._

"She's really looking forward to seeing you, dear. So you better not let her down."

"You seem to be forgetting something, _mother_." Gray emphasized on the last word, "I'm _married_ and my _wife_ is sitting here right beside me." Gray grabbed Claire's hand and dragged her closer to him.

Geraldine gave a tired sigh, "Take it with you if you must. But I want you to go and get dress now. I'll have a maid come and finish this up for you." And before anyone could say anything else, she left the room, leaving a timid-looking maid alone at the door.

"Claire, I'm sorry about-" Gray started to apologize, but again before he could finish, Geraldine's voice interrupted him.

"Now, Grayson!" Geraldine's shrilly voice floated from downstairs, loud enough to startle everyone in the room. Gray sighed in boredom, giving Claire an apologetic smile before getting up to go change in his room. When he passed the maid, he ordered her to take care of Claire and find her a dress first before leaving. The maid scurried over to Claire and started working on the scratches on her arms.

Claire glanced over at the maid and muttered, "She's a bitch ain't she."

A shy smile tugged on the maid's lips before she answered politely, "That she is, ma'am."

* * *

Claire's POV

That bitch! I could just strangle her with that pretty pearls of her around her neck. And I would enjoy doing it too…believe me. Just go behind her and choke her and that would be the end of _Geraldine Worthington_.

But of course, I wouldn't want to stoop down to such levels just because I'm _furious _at her. I'm not that low. All I did was take whatever she dished out with a smile and got into the car that was taking me to the restaurant. Alone. Without Gray.

Why?

Oh, well, guess what? Madison here came a _tad _bit early and without having anyone telling me, she and Gray were sent off to go to the restaurant first to wait for me there! When I got downstairs in my new 50 dollar dress that I bought when I came here and my only pumps, I was surprised to see that there was no one there waiting for me. And when I searched for them, only to find Geraldine sipping tea and eating biscuits in the living room, she told me that they left and suggested I stay behind.

Stay behind my butt.

Knowing that she would rather kill herself before providing me with transportation, I had to call for a cab and go to the restaurant myself…which is what I'm doing right now.

"I'm sorry but can you _please,_ for the love of Goddess, step on it! Someone's waiting for me!" I practically screamed at the cab driver, but it did nothing but made my throat dry. Ugh, city cab drivers…they'll ignore you until you wave a green note in front of them. I quickly opened my purse to find some gold before throwing it to the front. "There! Now can you _please_ go faster?"

Satisfied, he finally stepped on the gas and sped through the streets, reaching the restaurant in less than 10 minutes. I threw some more money at him before jumping out…a little too quickly. You see, that day I was wearing a coat since it was a little windy, and as you know, coats are long so…

_Riiippppppp._

I heard the loud _rip_ behind me and when I turned around, the cab had already drove away, along with a portion of my coat. The bottom half of my coat was missing now.

"Fudge! Fudgidy fudge fudge!" I started muttering, stamping my feet on the pavement out of frustration. How the heck am I supposed to go inside there now? I'll be a laughing stock and the little snobby brat of a girl that Geraldine set Gray up with will probably tell Geraldine and laughing about it with her over tea and crumpets later at the club.

I was really considering calling a cab to get back, or at least find a bin to throw the damn thing away, but then…

"Claire?" Gray called as he walked out from the restaurant.

Damn…why did he have to see me like this? I tried to muster a confident smile as I waved at him.

"Hey Gray…uhh…what are you doing out here?"

"Well I was waiting for you and when I saw you coming out of the cab, I came to get you…uhh, your coat…"

Double damn! He saw that too!

"Yeah…I guess the cab driver really liked my coat, so he ripped it off of me. It's a crime to wear pretty things in this city. Hehehe…he…" I chuckled nervously. Gray chuckled along with me as he took off his blazer and helped me out of my coat.

"I'll buy you a new coat before we go home, alright?" He asked as he helped me put on his blazer. It was really big since compared to Gray, my head reached only to his chin. He also had wide strong shoulders, big and begging for a pair of arms to wrap around. I felt tingly all over just imaging about that…to wrap my arms around his-

_Woah there! Hold it Claire, what in Goddess name are you thinking? __Snap out of it!_

I gave myself a imaginary slap in the face. I turned to look at my reflection in the mirror and saw how big the blazer was on me. It looked like as if a piece of clothing was swallowing me whole! I pulled off the decorative belt I had on and handed it to Gray as I rearranged the blazer on me. I pulled it closer, making it tight so it won't make it look baggy, and then used the belt to keep it in place. I actually looked good like this. Gray was smiling down at me when I was done.

"Perfect, no one would've guessed that a hobo cab driver stole half of your coat. Come on, let's quickly eat so we can get back to pack out stuff and leave this place. I'm actually starting to miss the old man." He gave me an arm and I took it…after giving me a few more slaps in the head. I can't help it, there's just something about being offered an arm that you can't refuse.

"Why Grayson Worthington, I do declare! Is that sentiment I heard in your voice? Your granddaddy will be overwhelmed with joy when I tell him that." I teased him, talking in an southern accent while jabbing him teasingly in the waist.

"Yeah yeah, yuk it up." He bumped me with his hip slightly, but it was enough to make me sway to the side. I bumped him back and he bumped me again. We attracted a few disdaining stares from the rich folk inside, but we didn't care and continued doing it until we reached our table…where Madison was sitting alone. She didn't look too happy.

"Grayson. I was waiting for so long! What took you so long?" She started complaining the second we were in hearing distance. Gray made a bored and annoyed look on his face. I agree with him. I'm annoyed of her already.

"Claire, meet Madison. Madison, Claire." He introduced us to each other, pulling a chair out for me to sit before sitting next to me. Madison gave us both a look. Pursing her lips, she tried to regain Gray's attention.

"So Grayson, I _loved _the lilies you bought for me. Thank you!"

"You're welcome." Gray answered in a bored tone. The flowers were for her? I gave him a look and he mouthed, 'I didn't know.'

"So Grayson, your mother tells me that you make accessories." She continued talking.

"Um. Yeah, I do." He answered back. She gave him a smile and tried to lean in a little closer.

"Maybe you can make me something?"

I could see her fake eyelashes fluttering like crazy when she tilts her head into the light like that.

At that point, I was really hating the crap out of this Madison. I sat there in silence, staring at the menu while listening to their conversation. If Gray decided to make her something special, we're going to have a long talk.

"Uh…I'll be leaving tomorrow so it'll be kinda hard to make you something."

_Hah! Take that Madison!_

She frowned and was about to say something else, but then I interrupted.

"Waiter! We'd like to order!" I called the waiter, signaling for him to come. I turned to glance at Madison, and at that moment, our eyes connected.

It was on.

* * *

The food couldn't come here fast enough. By the time it came, Claire and Madison were having cat fights with their eyes nonstop. Gray, clueless as he was to the whole drama before him, stayed silent. He sensed the tension, but what could he do about it? Very little, that's what.

"Grayson, you should try this!" Madison chirped brightly, putting a spoonful of fillet mignon on his plate, "It's superb."

"Uhh…"

"Gray? You should try this too!" Claire added, stuffing a spoon of spaghetti into his mouth before he could stop her. "It's _superb_."

The rest of the lunch went on with both of them trying to feed Gray, help Gray, or gain his attention. Most tables were staring at them. Most men were staring at Gray with envy.

"Grayson/Gray!" Both Claire and Madison called his name, trying to put each of their dessert on his plate. Annoyed and fed up, he pulled his plate away from the table. Their dessert fell and landed on the table.

"Enough!" Gray said sternly. "I have my own dessert! I don't need either of yours." Feeling a little mean, he added quietly, "Thank you…"

"This is all your fault!" Madison hissed at Claire, trying to do it quietly enough for Gray not to hear.

"My fault? I wasn't the one who practically gave her whole dish to Gray like an offering!" Claire hissed back.

"I'm right here…" Gray reminded them.

"Oh shut up, Gray-" Claire said but stopped midway, her eyes gliding over and past his head to the table in the corner. Was that Kai and the woman she saw earlier?

She tried blinking a few times, desperately hoping that she was hallucinating, but no matter how many times she closed her eyes, Kai was still there when she opened them. With another woman. He was wearing a nice black suit, his bandana off and tucked in his pocket. The woman was wearing a plain white dress. They were laughing together, drinking champagne and eating lunch.

"Excuse me…" Claire muttered quietly, getting up from the table and walking away.

"Claire?" Gray called, wiping his mouth with the napkin first before following her. "Be right back." He yelled back to Madison at the table. He left in such a hurry to follow Claire that he didn't notice Kai who looked around the restaurant when he heard Gray's voice.

Gray found her outside the restaurant, sitting on the waiting bench. He sat beside her.

"You okay?" He asked.

She nodded, "Yeah, I just felt…a little sick. That's all. I guess the lobster isn't sitting too well." She grimaced and stuck her tongue out with a sick expression.

"It better stay in your stomach. You ordered the most expensive dish on the menu." He sounded a little miffed.

Claire frowned with confusion, she looked up at him and asked, "I thought Geraldine was paying for the meal."

"No…she's not. The money is coming out from _my_ pocket."

"Oh…oops."

Gray laughed and ruffled her hair playfully. He put an arm around her and drew her closer so that her head was leaning on his shoulder. He drew in a breath and her vanilla scent filled his nostrils.

"Hey…if you want to talk about anything that's on your mind…I'm right here." He said softly in a comforting tone. "Might it be about your farm or...Goddess forbid, shoes. I'm here."

"My my, aren't you being a good husband." She teased, looking up to see him smiling.

"Yeah…I knew marrying you was going to be troublesome. I just have to suck it up and deal with my mistakes." He made a pained expression, laughing again when she hit him in the shoulder. When she finished, she went back to leaning against him.

"So you're calling me your husband now, huh?"

"Don't ruin the moment, Gray…I'm taken." _For now, _she thought to herself. She thought that she gave her whole heart to Kai, but these days, she's not sure if she did. She wasn't sure either if he ever did give her his.

"Sorry…" He muttered, glancing back at the restaurant. He didn't want to go back inside at all. "Wanna get out of here? I paid already before I came out. We can just leave if you want."

"And Madison?" Claire asked, drawling her name out in a snobby, pompous tone. "I really don't like her…trying to give you food like that. Ugh!"

Gray looked down at her and saw her pouting her lips. "If I don't know any better, I'd think that you're jealous, Claire."

Claire blushed instantly, putting her head down to hide it from him. But she couldn't hide her stuttering.

"W-What? Jealous? Me? No!" She couldn't even form a whole sentence properly because…he was right.

"Okay okay. Let's get out of here then. Madison can get herself a cab." With that, he got up and pulled Claire up with him. When he whistled, his driver came around and parked the car in front for them to get in. He opened the door for her to get in, but before she did, she looked back at the restaurant once more. Pass the window, she could still see Kai, talking happily with that unknown woman. She looked back at Gray, opening the door for her.

"Get your ass in the car, Claire. Hurry up." He muttered, pushing her head in the car so he could get in after her. She laughed when he pushed her in, making her fall to make space for himself.

She looked at his face again, at which point he turned to glance at her and smiled. She was certain that she was wrong. Kai didn't have her whole heart. Not anymore.

* * *

Is Claire FINALLY giving in and admitting that she likes/LOVES Gray? Fingers crossed!

Don't forget to review. (:


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